


Wealth and Taste

by Caprilicious



Series: Pure Might [2]
Category: Deltarune (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Family Issues, Fluff and Angst, Gen, I swear there will be fluff in this one guys, I'm not listing all the issues out, Male Kris (Deltarune), Mental Illness, Self-Harm, You read Creatures you know what's going on
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:21:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 38,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24478627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caprilicious/pseuds/Caprilicious
Summary: A continuation/sequel/epilogue of Creature From The Shadows, so go read that one first if you haven't.Oh god, we have to focus on our personal issues instead of fight some evil dude? Hopefully this doesn't last too long.
Relationships: Kris & Ralsei & Susie (Deltarune), Ralsei/Susie (Deltarune)
Series: Pure Might [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1765906
Comments: 31
Kudos: 40





	1. Safe and Sound

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is a little warm up thing just to get out there, so the others won't be this short. Don't expect daily updates again, though.

It was pitch black in the prison cell, and so cramped that the stale air itself elbowed them to make more room. The floor, walls, ceilings, they were all cold metal and shut so tightly that if they had lungs they surely would have suffocated by now.

They missed being part of a team.

They missed having a body to move and speak with.

It was just like they always dreamed, so why did it have to end? They were finally good at something, and they felt good. They felt like nothing could go wrong.

Sometimes when their thoughts drifted away from the maddening nothingness of their imprisonment, they could see it.

He was just as guilty as they were, why was he allowed to go free? Why does he deserve her love, and his friendship? If they had a body, they’d be too tired to thrash about in pure, unadulterated rage anyway. Screaming a thought to yourself is just the same as whispering it, denying them even the most primal catharsis.

It’s been weeks since they heard anything, or even saw anything that wasn’t through the Body’s eyes. He hated them, and they hated him, but it’s hard to lie to yourself when you’re a concentration of being.

They wished they could cry. Hours were spent hurling themselves into the wall to deal some form of damage to themself, but they had become too strong from the dust on their hands to be harmed by it.

Built to hate, and built to receive hate was just their nature, and without any other targets for it, it fell onto their own shoulders. They were the same as Kris, so who was playing favorites? The injustice they felt for the situation blackened the darkness they were trapped in even more, trying as hard as they could to somehow connect the pain to their physical counterpart.

It wasn’t fair.

Why were they to be left and forgotten in a cold safe for all eternity while their partners walked free? They had betrayed them, and lied to each other about the whole thing. The feeling of anger and pain boiled hotter and hotter with every endless repetition of the question.

Forever and always.

The power of hate shines within you. 


	2. What Is Kris Short For?

The sound of heavy boots pacing back and forth on the cold floor was the only noise in the entire town, the authority that they held making its inhabitants seem to hide away in their homes. Sitting in a chair watching the boots follow their track was an anxious monster, sweat beginning to form on his brow.

“Um...is it okay if I take my scarf off?” The monster in question asked sheepishly, tugging it loose from his neck. “It’s getting a bit toasty in here.”

“Shut up.” Two powerful pink hands slammed onto the table, startling even their owner. “Uh, I mean, sure. But you better not let your guard down!” The break in character was facilitated by the look of fear in the eyes of the goat. He nodded and began to unfurl his scarf, but another bark from his draconic interrogator nearly made him get tangled in the long, winding fabric.

“What’s your name? Where are you from?!” She refrained from pounding on the table again, but found it difficult to not get into the character.

“Um...I-I forget what I’m supposed to say.” Ralsei managed to wrangle the scarf and lay it onto the table, draping over both ends horizontally. “Do I use my real name, or…?”

“Your real name, duh. What else would you say?” Susie crossed her arms. “Maybe we should make you an index card or something.”

“Well, you and Kris still call me Ralsei, so I’m a little confused on the matter.” He clasped his hands together, looking up at the looming whelp.

“Huh, I guess you got a point. Just think of it like a nickname.” She shrugged. “But you’re gonna want to tell her your real name, probably. Or, uh, I’m not sure how that’d come up in that conversation. It’d be weird to just up and tell her without being asked, wouldn’t it?”

“What’s a nickname?” Ralsei just looked even more confused. “Is my name going to matter to her that much?”

“Yo, Kris!” She turned towards the wall and yelled. “C’mere for a sec!” Her raspy voice warranted no vocal response, making her roll her eyes. “Anyway, yeah, nicknames? They’re like...things people call you that aren’t your actual name. Could be shortened versions of your legal name, or something they associate with you...trying to explain it is hard.” The clank of metal boots approached the kitchen where they were stationed.

“I think I understand. So when you call Kris a freak, or…” A blush tinted his cheeks as he held back a smile. “All those sweet things you call me-”

“THOSE.” She cut him off with wide eyes as Kris poked his head around the door. “Are different.” She cleared her throat. “You got any water? My throat’s killing me, talking this much. Anyway, Kris…”

“Yes?” He answered after staring at her for the duration of her deflection. “Are you ready to leave?”

She looked at him for a second, the cogs in her brain trying to churn out the memory of why she had called for him in the first place. “Uh...not yet, but…” She felt the heat of Kris’s glare intensify with annoyance despite a lack of expression change, as if the bags beneath his eyes were full of coal. “Hey, you’re welcome to actually help us out with this, you know. You can also just go home if you don’t wanna hang around, also.” Her brittle toughness cracked at Kris’s seeming hostility.

“What’d you yell to me for?” He twisted his head around, making his neck crack. “Did you need something?” The red eyes of the human stayed on Susie like Ralsei was a gorgon.

“Yes, actually.” Ralsei spoke up. “We were talking about nicknames, remember Susie?” The look on Kris’s face made it seem like his words were just hitting him in the face.

“Oh, yeah. Kris, could you find a way to bring up Ralsei’s name to your mom? It’ll make her trust him more if she knows the whole thing beforehand, y’know?” She scratched the back of her head. “You do know Ralsei’s name, right…?” She was only half joking, as it seemed like Kris and Ralsei didn’t talk to each other very much as of late. Kris just blinked at her, and Ralsei put his finger up.

“It’s okay if you don’t know, Kris. I don’t really talk about it much, and in terms of middle names…” Ralsei rubbed his chin and squinted. “I can’t seem to recall either of yours. What’s your middle name, Susie?” The turn of Ralsei’s head put the spotlight on her. “Mine is Orn.”

“Me? Uh...I’ve never actually thought about that.” She felt the heat of anxiety boil through her scales. “Speaking of which, I hope this isn’t too out of turn, but, how were you named, Kris? Er, it’s kinda hard to ask that without asking a bunch of other weird questions.” Kris’s brooding seemed to be shaken off rhythm by the question. “It’s the name my birth parents gave me, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Birth parents?” Ralsei raised an eyebrow.

“Did you not know I am adopted? You’ve met my mom before.” Kris’s stare creaked over to Ralsei, his eyelids lowering to match his level of amusement.

“You’re adopted? I thought maybe your father was a human, I’ve never seen him before.” Ralsei’s ears drooped slightly, fearing he upset his friend.

“Yes you have, you’ve brought me flowers like 5 times this month.” Susie turned to join Kris.

“That guy is your dad?!” Ralsei was taken aback.

“We’re getting off track here.” Susie looked back towards Kris. “Look. You just gotta say  _ something  _ about him, but call him Immanuel, and then your mom will be like ‘oh who’s Immanuel?’ and then you’ll tell her it’s Ralsei. Simple as that. Got it?” Kris leaned against the doorway and nodded with a quiet sigh. “Alright, now…” Susie approached the table where Ralsei was seated once again. “What’s your name, and where do you live?” The manufactured harshness returned to her voice.

“My name is Immanuel Mantia, and I live...uh...I don’t suppose she’ll know where Nabbado Hills is, will she?” He stared up at her again, his voice more akin to asking if that answer was okay as opposed to telling her.

“Man, I don’t even know where that is. Is that just what the area around here is called?” Ralsei shook his head.

“You’re right, that’s a silly question. Where could we tell her I live? The whole point is that I don’t live anywhere, right?” Ralsei thought as Kris looked at the clock on his phone. How had they only been here for half an hour?

“Good point. She’s probably gonna ask where you’re from, how you got in the situation of being homeless, how me met, all that crap. So I’m actually glad I got you here, Kris, ‘cus we’re gonna need to get our story straight between the three of us.”

Ralsei looked uncomfortable, fiddling with the scarf on the table. “So we’re gonna lie? I doubt she would believe us even if we did tell the truth, but…”

“Since when do you have a problem with lying?” Kris slipped his gauntlet back on, mumbling. Ralsei seemed to be the only one to hear what he said.

“What was that?” Susie brushed her hair back and looked at Kris. “Did you say something, Kris?”

“No.” He kept his eyes on his gauntlet, wiggling the fingers into place.

“Oh, alright. Yeah, we’d probably have to lie to her, but it’s gotta be a pretty good lie. She can be pretty scary if she knows she’s being messed with.” Susie looked to the side with fear peeking out.

“Ms. Toriel? She’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.” Ralsei looked to make sure Kris wasn’t really paying attention to him. “Are you sure I can’t just stay here?”

“Hell no. I can’t take even one night here, let alone having you live in this spooky ass castle.” Susie stood firm as a stone wall. “How long have you been here, anyway?”

Ralsei got up and walked over to a calendar hung up on the wall above the counter, flipping through it a few times. “Well, I first got here on…” He began to do math in his head.

“Got here?” Kris squinted. “What do you mean, ‘got here’? I thought you were born here.”

“I never said that, um...one second…” Ralsei tensed up at the questioning, and Susie hit Kris’s arm with the back of her hand while Ralsei looked at the calendar. “Ah, here it is.” He pointed at what looked to be the page for January. It was covered almost completely in writing and scribbles, formatted like a much more childish version of the manual he had made for them. “January 6th, 2010. Which would mean...wait, you guys still use this measure of time, right?” Susie went up to him and glanced at the calendar. “Uh, yeah. You can’t reuse calendars, dude. Every year has different days and stuff.”

“Oh, I know. I crossed out all the days and adjusted them to be correct every year. It is almost December for you guys, right?” He showed Susie the calendar, pointing at an incoherent mass of words and ink scribbles.

“Uh, in like ten days, yeah. You can read this…?” Susie brought it closer to her face, squinting. “This is in English, right?” She tried to tilt it, but Ralsei adjusted it to be straight with a nod. “Huh. Alright. 2010? You’ve lived here for 8 years?” Susie pulled her head back and looked at Ralsei in shock.

“Um, I guess I have, just about. It feels like a lot longer, and it also feels weird to think I’ve almost lived here longer than I lived with…” He shut the calendar. “It’s not important. What’s a nearby city or town in your world?” Kris’s lip twitched.

“Will you stop being so dramatic? You’ve been doing this for like a month, and honestly I think you’re full of shit.”

Susie was caught off guard, and gave a kneejerk response of anger. “The hell does that mean, Kris?”

“I’m saying that I’m done with all this cagey stuff. What did he tell you? He lied to us before, what makes you think he wouldn’t lie to you again? What’s this sob story you keep almost revealing to us?”

“Kris, shut up. Why are you being such a dick? That was a while ago, and I thought we were done with it.” She crossed her arms, tensing them up.

“Why are you getting mad at me, I’m trying to look out for you. All we’ve ever gotten out of this guy is lies and tricks, so why should I believe you now? Let him talk.” Kris leaned over to see Ralsei. He was looking back at Kris, frozen up.

“Look, if you’re gonna be all pissy then just leave.” Susie growled.

“Pissy? Excuse me for not being thrilled at the idea of a guy I barely know moving into my room. You never asked me if I was alright with that once!” Kris stood up from the doorway, holding his arms straight to his sides with his fists clenched. “Why don’t you keep him at your house? You’re the one who came up with this idea.”

“You really think my parents would let some stranger live with us? We don’t even have a room for him, and he sure as hell wouldn’t be allowed to sleep in my bed. Why didn’t you say something sooner if you had such a problem with it?”

Kris had been stumped. “I don’t know, I didn’t want to ruin your plan. But I don’t want a murderer sleeping 5 feet away from me.”

Susie opened her mouth, but wasn’t quick enough on the draw to speak. “Before you say anything,” Kris added, “I know my soul was possessing you and all, but why’d he absorb it? Why’d he wait until we were all about to die to suddenly pop up and save us? I’ll tell you why, because we were never in danger. He planned this whole thing out to make himself look like a hero! Well guess what, you aren’t! Did you plan to betray us to Lancer’s dad, or did you just fuck that up too?” Kris was nearing the point of froth coming out of the corners of his mouth. “The only reason I even come to these hangouts anymore is to make sure you don’t try anything with Susie. You’re a piece of fucking shit, Ralsei, or whatever the fuck your name actually is. You’re just lucky that Susie is so desperate that she’d do basically whatever you tell her if it means you’ll give her attention. No wonder you live here alone, what’d you do? Kill your parents? Or did they just not want anything to do with your useless, psychotic, scummy ass!” He bared his teeth, panting.

The kitchen was silent until Kris felt an iron grip on his arm. “Kris. I’m gonna give you 30 seconds to get the fuck out of here, or I’m gonna throw your ass into the fountain myself.” Susie tried not to seem too scary in front of Ralsei. Kris tried to pull his arm away, and Susie relented.

“Fine, whatever. You wanna play more pretend games with this asshole, be my guest.”

“Fuck you, man. What’s your problem?” Susie’s lips twitched back.

“Both of you, please leave.”

“Huh?” Susie looked back behind her to see Ralsei’s back. Kris was already gone, heading towards the fountain. “You want me to go?” Susie’s wrath evaporated away into hurt. “Are you ok?”

“Yes. I just want to be alone right now. Please.”

She began to walk towards him slowly, reaching her hand out. “Hey, Kris is just in a shitty mood-”

“Susie.”

She stopped in her tracks, her hand falling back to her side. “You sure? You don’t really seem in the best spot to be left alone.”

“Why? Do you think I’m going to try to hurt someone?”

“What? I didn’t mean it like that, Ralsei.”

“I’m genuinely asking.” He tilted his head, enough to see her behind him out of the corner of his eye.

“No, I don’t think that. I understand that whole situation was kinda confusing, but it’s not your fault, Ralsei. I don’t hate you, or I’m not afraid of you, or whatever stupid stuff Kris was saying.” 

“Well he’s right! About all of it! Why not hate me?” Ralsei turned around to face her, and it was hard to believe she was looking at the same person as before. His spiny teeth were showing in anger, and his fur seemed to stand up. “Is it true?”

“Is what true? Please try to calm down.”

“Do you only trust me and forgive me because you have to? Am I just waiting for you to blow up at me, too?”

“Of course not, why would you think that? I understand what happened wasn’t alright or anything, but from what you’ve told me, I understand what happened. I guess I coulda phrased that better, but, I love you. I really, honestly do. But also, I don’t just say all that because I do, or because you do for me. I don’t know what I’m trying to say anymore, but basically I’m not gonna leave unless you really want me to.” She reached up to brush her hair aside, but a sudden shock from it startled her. “Alright?”

Ralsei was quiet again, looking at the floor with his anger seeming to be quelled. “I don’t understand.” He sighed. “I was wondering why you kept being so nice to me even after everything, but Kris gave me a pretty convincing answer.” He walked past Susie. “I’m just going to go to bed. I’m tired, and I don’t want to talk anymore.”

“Ralsei, please don’t think what he said was true. It’s not at all, I swear.” She followed him out to the foyer with no response. “Just rest up, I guess. Would you want me to come back tomorrow? We don’t have to hang out or anything, it’s just kinda the only way to check up on you.”

Ralsei stopped before going up the first step. “Do you not trust me enough to have a single day unsupervised, or to have a day without some stranger pretending to care because you told them to?” He gripped the banister, dreading another awkward conversation about how he was doing with a Card grunt sent by Lancer.

“Ralsei, you know it’s not like that. I just don’t want you to feel bad.”

“Well I always feel bad.” He said without missing a beat. “I don’t need people coming in and making me feel worse. I don’t care if Kris actually hates me or not, Susie. I hate myself so, so very much. I don’t need more reasons to.”

“Ralsei, come here.” He didn’t turn around, but heard the heavy footsteps behind him. “That’s...kinda a lot to say, and I suck at talking, so I’m gonna do this.” He stayed as still as a statue, watching two arms come up from under his shoulders and pull him back. He didn’t move beyond letting go of the banister of the stairs.

“You’re not gonna feel like this forever, I promise. We’re gonna get you out of here, and then I’m gonna be there for you anytime you want.” Ralsei stayed silent. “I feel bad a lot of the time, too. I think most people do, actually. But that’s why there’s therapy and stuff.”

“You feel bad?” Ralsei turned around and stared up at her with puppy dog eyes. It was a sudden change that almost gave her emotional whiplash, but she’d take it over how he was a minute ago in a heartbeat.

“Uh, yeah, I guess. Kris does too, but he’d never tell you. That’s why he blows up and says all that garbage. But I’m pretty sure you actually have something wrong with you. Uh, I mean like, a disease. So when you’re up with us, we’ll get that all worked out.”

“I feel fine, Susie. Why do you feel bad? Do you go to therapy?” Ralsei’s arms were wrapped tightly around her back. “Why didn’t you say anything before?”

“Er...no, but I think you’re kind of a special case. I don’t know how to say that without sounding like I’m insulting you.” Susie was afraid to move too much, like it would upset the late game jenga tower of Ralsei’s emotions. “Let’s just take it one step at a time.”

“Alright.” He kept squeezing her tighter, filling Susie’s heart with a strange warm sadness. 

“So, uh, you still want me to go? I will if you want me to, but uh. Yeah.” She patted his back gently, Ralsei taking it as a symbol to let go.

“I really am pretty tired, I went to the store today, and talking to people so much really tires me out.” He rubbed his eye under his glasses. “You should be getting home, too. Try not to come so late next time, so we can do more.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll talk to Kris and see what’s going on with him, too. I like to think of it like this: In a week, none of this is even gonna matter. So try not to worry too much about it, alright?” She rubbed his head, scratching his poofy hair softly.

“I’ll try. But before you go, can I ask you something?” He reached up and took her hand in his, then her arm in both of his.

“Sure.” She grinned, feeling his cheek rub against her bicep.

“Is Susie short for anything?”

Susie thought for a second. “I’m not really sure, no. Should it be…? I just liked the name. Why do you ask?”

“I was just wondering. You said you could come back again tomorrow? You don’t have church or anything?” He kept her eyes on her face.

“Pff, no. I’d definitely come back if you wanted me to, I’d just have to get the keys to the school from Kris.”

Ralsei gave Susie a strong parental look of disapproval. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You’re not going to steal it, or hurt him, are you?”

“What? Of course not, what do you take me for?” A grin crept across her face. “I was just gonna threaten him for it.”

“Susie…” Ralsei whined with cheesy exasperation, making them both giggle.

“Seriously, don’t.”

“Yeah, I know.” 


	3. Yaldabaoth Blues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The power of   
> |------|------|--------------|  
> |------|------|--------------|  
> |------|------|--------------|   
> |-3----|-4----|-9>\-----------|   
> |-3----|-4----|-9>-(dive)-----|   
> |-1----|-2----|-7>\-----------| shines within you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Skeletons

“Hey buddy, are you lost? Where’s your mom?”

Kris was yanked out of his appreciative observation of the seemingly arbitrarily patterned tile floor, meeting face to face with the various brands of potato chips lining the shelves before him. He yawned and reached into his pocket for his phone, glancing around to make sure nobody was watching him so they didn’t think he was stealing. Doing that made him look even more suspicious, he realized, but it was too late; the cat was out of the bag now, along with his phone. 

“What did she want…?” Kris mumbled to himself, reading the conversation that Susie had with him earlier in the day. To his surprise, she had asked him to meet at the lake to hang out about 20 minutes from now, but she had a caveat: Bring snacks. Specifically not popcorn. It was an odd request, Kris thought, but he wasn’t going to pass it up. After what had happened the day before, Kris was just happy to still have Susie talking to him. He was hoping to use this hang out opportunity to sort of explain himself for digging into Ralsei so hard, and smooth things over with her.

“Tch. Not like he tried to kill us or anything. Even if it wasn’t him, he didn’t seem to do much to stop the other guy from blasting us to hell.” Kris rolled his eyes, feeling the frustration of it all press his teeth together. “Didn’t take long for another goat asshole to waltz in and steal the spotlight, did it?” He gripped the end of a bag of Nacho Cheese Flavored Duradelos, ready to get out of the grocery store as fast as possible. He always seemed to be alone in them, and it sort of creeped him out. That being said, he hadn’t actually been in one for many years before this visit, but Kris had even more reason to feel aversion towards this specific store.

“Need help making a choice, pal?”

The voice behind him activated a deep, unknown part of his brain, a primal sense of annoyance fading in like a familiar lick stuck in his head that made him want to cut a fish lady in half, or maybe stab some dickhead who goes on and on about his metallic legs. His head slowly turned enough to see him in his peripheral, then quickly as to not look like a weirdo.

Speaking of weirdos, why were they so obsessed with this guy?

“Uh, no, I’m good.” Kris finally replied, turning the rest of his body to look down at the store owner who now stood behind him.

“You sure? You been staring at the same row of chip bags for like 5 straight minutes.” The perpetual grin and tempting baldness of the skeleton’s head made Kris thankful that his general anxiety overpowered his slap instinct. “Just admiring the presentation? I’ll be sure to tell my bro, he stocked the shelves last night, and he’s pretty anal about that stuff.”

“ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT ME OVER THERE?” A much louder voice yelled from the aisle next to them. Kris was already speed walking towards the checkout, praying that literally anybody else worked there.

“Nah, go back to work.” The shorter skeleton said back, not even raising his voice. Exiting the aisle and turning towards his conveyor ladened sanctuary, Kris was punched in the brain by the appearance of the same stout skeleton standing at checkout, the same shit eating grin on his face like he knew something Kris didn’t.

“The grocery store, him, Susie...am I in a nightmare?” Kris thought, his heart rate beginning to pick up as he put the bag up and dug for his wallet. “This feels too real, get it together.” He tried to take a deep breath.

“Speaking of which, how’s your mom doing?” Kris reached out and handed over the money for the chips, coming to the realization that he was in hell rather than a nightmare.

“She’s alright.” Kris said flatly.

“Duradelos, huh? Your dad buys these just about every time he comes in here. Chip off the ol’ block, huh.”

The silence hung between them as Kris tried to put his change in his wallet like there was a line behind him.

“C’mon, nothing? Too salty for me to be cheesy?” The skeleton shrugged, winking at the human going for the exit.

“I-I guess.” He muttered as he pushed the doors open, getting outside and taking a deep breath, holding up his trophy of snacks to look at again. Not wasting another second, he turned towards the beach of the lake, at least getting to tell Susie about how much he hates the boner who works at the grocery store.

Fuck grocery stores.

A wind blew down the street, tracing its origins back down to the sandy spot where approximately 1.5 Lightners sat. The wind harassed the purple draconian, making her shiver and warranting a scoot closer from her companion.

“Are you cold? We could always tell him to meet us somewhere warm. Preferably inside.” The lean caprine whimpered with sullen brows.

“Nah, I’m fine. Where would we even go? The library? This is the only place I can think of that isn’t just Kris’s house where we could do this at.” Susie rubbed her arms, shivering. “Hurry up, Kris.”

“You look freezing, you poor thing. Do you want my jacket?” He was already beginning to take it off. “It may not fit, but you could, um...put the sleeves on I guess. Though your arms are quite large…” He rubbed her bicep with his hand.

“Holy shit you are warm.” She snatched his hand, pulling him over so that their sides clashed. “I wish I had fur like that, being a lizard honestly sucks.”

“W-Well, it’s a bit of a pain to take care of, and if you get too hot there isn’t really much you can do about it.” Ralsei held his arms out, noticing Susie trying to make herself as small as possible to fit as much as she could into his warmth.

“Don’t care. C’mere, be my blanket.” She grinned, hunching over and trying to squirm her head up the bottom of Ralsei’s shirt.

“H-Here? Susie, I’m really not in the mood for this kind of thing right now, I’m very nervous.” He held his shirt down as Susie stopped and sat back up, sighing.

“Guess you’re right. We should probably shift into serious mode so Kris doesn’t immediately leave. Are you alright?” Her eyes softened into that of care and sympathy, rubbing his back gently.

“Yes, I’m fine, I just hope Kris doesn’t hate me.” His bluntness caught Susie off guard.

“Hate you? Kris doesn’t hate you, man, I talked to him last night after he blew up at us. He’s just, uh…” She cringed and shrugged at him.

“Just what?” Ralsei didn’t take it as a good sign.

“Well, look. I can’t really think of a nicer way to put it, so here’s what to brace yourself for I guess. He doesn’t really trust you, and he’s scared that you’re trying to trick me, or something. Basically, he’s still not completely over the whole uh, K word thing.” She watched as his head turned towards the water, staring towards the reflection of the orange sky.

“I see. It’s fair of him to feel that way. I don’t hold anything against him for it.” He drew circles in the sand with his finger. “I did do some pretty horrible things.” He slouched as a weighty hand rested on his shoulder.

“Hey, uh, Rals?” She patted his shoulder to make him turn to face her. “How have you been, lately?”

“Um, I don’t know. Why are you asking?” His eyes moved more than his head did.

“I mean like, that voice that you said talks to you. You mentioned it before, and...I think about that a lot. Does that still happen?” Susie’s voice dropped from being in-your-face to gently nuzzling it, and it made Ralsei’s heart thump with concern over whatever she could be concerned about. It was a vicious cycle.

“Oh, you mean Angie? She always talks to me. I see her sometimes, around a corner or looking in from a doorway. I really wish she wouldn’t do that, it scares the heck out of me.” He rubbed the back of his neck, forcing a bit of a laugh.

“When you say stuff like that, it freaks me out.” Susie’s yellow eyes both turned back towards the water, providing a safe shield of obscurity to get it off her chest. “I’m really worried about you, Ralsei. The whole Angie thing makes me really scared to have you in a place where nobody is with you, or I can’t get to you. How am I supposed to know you’re okay?”

“Susie, why do you think I wouldn’t be okay? She’s harmless, even though she can be a bit mean. But, lately she’s been...I’m not sure how to describe it.” Fear splayed across Ralsei’s face. “She can hear us, so I don’t know if I should say anything more.”

Susie rested her hand on top of Ralsei’s. “What does she say, Ralsei? I need you to tell me so I can help.”

He stayed quiet for a moment, the only sound being the wind and the small waves rising up and down on the sand. “It’s hard. She always insults me, and says really hurtful things, and it’s hard to focus when you’re both talking, and...and...now Kris is mad, it’s really stressful. I can hardly live with myself as it is.”

The hand on his shoulder became an arm, and the other went under his hand to hold it. “She’s not real, Ralsei. Look at me.” The two hands left him for a moment, only to be reunited on his cheeks to guide him to Susie’s eyes. “What happened last month, that wasn’t your fault, alright? It was Kris’s soul.” Ralsei’s eyes broke away from her look.

“I don’t think you know how much was really done by the soul, and how much was me.” Her hands eased up on him. “I was mad, Susie. I was really, really mad. I wanted the whole world to know how mad I was, and I wanted them to hurt. I just wanted to believe in something, even if it wasn’t real. Angie told me what I needed to do, and I agreed. I chose to absorb the soul, and I knew what I wanted to do with it.” The hands left his face to let him speak without obstruction. “But I didn’t realize how little control I really had. Truth be told, I didn’t really want to hurt anyone. I just wanted people to like me, and admire me. Even if I had to force them to. But then, I realized that nobody really cared how I looked, or how powerful I was, people just treated me the same way. I remembered my old home, and…” Ralsei sighed. “I suppose I should fill you in on all that so this makes sense.”

“Oh, uh…” Susie didn’t want to tell him like this, but she wanted to spare him having to explain it all to her. Besides, Kris could show up at any second. “You don’t have to do that, actually. I think I get the picture.”

“You do? I don’t want you to be confused.” He held his hands together.

“Er, yeah. I kinda uh...may have accidentally read your diary. I didn’t know what it was, I’m really sorry man.”

“Huh? I don’t have a…” A look of revelation slowly worked its way across Ralsei’s face. “Oh. You mean...those books?” Susie nodded. “Then I guess you do know. But, um, I should say, a lot of that stuff didn’t actually happen, I just wish it did,”

“What stuff exactly? There were a few, but they all kinda said the same thing.” She lifted her knee, kindly ignoring the novella worth of expletives and violent erotica she had stumbled upon earlier.

“I’ll just tell you what did happen. Or at least, what’s important right now. My mom and I were run out of town because we were Lightners, but only I managed to get away. We were living in secret with my dad, but then they had a fight and he told the town about us.” Susie simply nodded in quiet understanding. “I don’t know where she is, or what they even did with her.” His fists were being clenched so hard that they shook, and the hair on his neck stood up. 

“But, anyway…” He took a deep breath and tried to relax himself. “A lot of what happened after that feels very blurry, like it was a dream. But I know in my heart what happened, I feel it all the time. I see the scared faces whenever I close my eyes, and...Susie?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I tell you something you probably don’t want to hear?” He looked at the ground, hugging himself.

“You just say whatever you feel like you need to say.” Susie said without deliberation, but only because her mouth was faster than her brain.

“I’ve felt like this for a long time, even before I met you and Kris. It was better for a little while, but I feel like I’ve ruined everything. Before I had hope that my mom would find me, then I had hope that you and Kris would come, and you did. But then I made everything difficult, and it’s falling apart. Now, even if she did find me, she’d be disgusted at what I’ve done. It would destroy her.”

“But look at you.” Susie tried to pump him back up. “Despite all of that, you still smile, and you still cheer me up all the time.” It seemed to have the opposite effect.

“Do you know how I stay so optimistic and cheery all the time, Susie?”

“Uh, what do you mean?” She stayed looking at him, but Ralsei’s eyes were determined to watch the water.

“I lie to myself. I lie to myself every single day of my life. Not even counting all the things I pretend to be, I lie. I can’t lie anymore, Susie. The only thing keeping me alive anymore is fear. The only times I ever feel happy I’m too scared of it ending to really enjoy it. Everytime you leave, I’m scared you won’t ever come back.”

“Why don’t you think I’ll come back?”

“Because I’m just a weirdo playing pretend.” Susie’s heart split in two. “I can’t tell what is me and what I forced myself to be because I thought people would like it more.”

“Ralsei, I’m sorry.” Susie brought her knees up and put an arm around them. “All that stuff I said was just me being a dick, none of it is true.”

“I know, Susie, but you’re right about that one. I’m tired of pretending. Everybody is just pretending to be happy when just being alive feels so miserable. I’m so tired of everything.” He laid flat onto his back, looking up at the sky.

“I’m bad at this, so I don’t really know what to say.” Susie turned back to look at him. “Are you okay?”

“No.”

Susie put her elbows on the ground and laid back beside him, looking up to the same sky as him, so in a way they could look at each other. “It’s gonna be alright. We’re gonna fix everything, and it’s gonna be really nice.”

“It’s too late.” He was scooped up and turned onto his side, his head lying limp on Susie’s chest.

“Shhh. I don’t care what you think about yourself, I think you are the most amazing person I have ever met. Can you just please promise me something?” She rubbed his head with less force than the breeze itself.

“What is it?” He looked up at the side of her face.

“Just please be safe. I really need you, Ralsei. You and Kris are the only people in my life who don’t make me feel like utter garbage all the time.” The look in her eyes was that of pleading.

“I promise, Susie.” He sat back up, facing her. “I’d do anything for you, so please don’t hesitate to tell me if you need anything.” They smiled and looked into each other’s eyes, embracing each other as the sun began to go down over the horizon. They held each other and rocked slowly back and forth, enjoying the sound of heartbeats and nature. The wind died down and susie was kept warm, cradled along by the waves gently caressing the land, the birds singing goodnight, and the ever so slight sound of plastic.

“Hey.” The new voice made them both quickly unhug and turn around, seeing a pensive Kris standing with a bag of chips a couple feet away. They both held their breath, having forgotten about the very reason they met up at that spot. To their surprise, Kris sat down next to them before saying anything else. “I kinda heard you guys talking.”

“How long were you listening?” Ralsei seemed to tense up at the human seated next to him, bringing his arms and legs close to him.

“The grocery store is like 30 seconds away from here, so...basically everything.” Kris sat the bag of chips down beside him, resting his forearms over his knees. “I thought it’d be weird to interrupt.”

“So you just listened in instead?” Susie said with as little hostility as she could muster while being genuinely mad on Ralsei’s behalf.

“That’s alright, Kris. Um...I’m sorry we had to lie to get you here, but we figured it would be the only way to get us all together.”

“Yeah, I understand. But I realized something.” Kris began to fiddle with the chip bag to open it, trying to pull hard enough to open but not hard enough to make the bag explode. “None of us are really happy, we all got that in common.” A smirk appeared on the corners of his mouth.

“Kris is right, we may be miserable, but we’re like The Misery Squad.” Susie gave her toothy grin, making it so Ralsei couldn’t help but respond with a little smile.

“Kris, I still have a few things I want to say. I understand you don’t trust me, but I really do just want to be your friend.” Ralsei rubbed his wrist, and Kris waved his hand at him.

“I was just being a paranoid jerk. If I can’t trust you, I can’t trust anybody. You’re like the perfect mix of naive and trustworthy. Do you want a chip?” He held the bag out to Susie and Ralsei.

“Um, thank you?”

“Have one, dude, these are really good. Just watch the dust on your hands. The CHEESE, I mean. Yeah.” Susie cleared her throat. “So, uh, tell me what you think.”

Ralsei bit off a piece with a crunch, carefully breaking it in his mouth. “It’s a bit hard to eat with my teeth...but they’re good I think.” He grimaced when he saw the orange stains all over his fingers.

“I warned you, bro.” Kris said flatly, chomping another chip. “Just wash your hands off in the lake, but don’t dig around in the bag without washing your hands first, who knows what’s in that water. It smells like shit.”

“I wasn’t very hungry, anyway. So, you’re not mad at me, Kris?” Ralsei went up to the shore and let the water run across his hands. “I’d rather you tell me if you were.”

“No, I’m not. We have a lot more in common than you might think. I do want to talk to you before you go home tonight, though. You’re not in trouble, don’t worry.” He said with a tone mocking a teacher, that at least made Susie laugh.

“Oh, of course. What do you think we have in common, Kris?” He held his hands in the water, looking back at Kris with a cautious curled mouth. Having looked away, he wasn’t aware of the large pair of eyes poking up from the somewhat distant water, or the pale yellow tentacles slithering up the sand.

“Eh, we both hate ourselves, what we are, all that jazz. But seriously, we’ll talk.” The tentacles grabbed Ralsei’s hands, making him jump back towards the other two and scaring his admirer away in the process.

“SHIT!” He screamed, clawing backwards away from the water as fast as he could. “S-Something grabbed me in the water!” He clung to Susie, trembling from the shock. Susie looked down at him a bit wide eyed, while Kris cackled to himself. “Sorry for cursing, I just got really scared.”

Susie still didn’t say anything, her mouth curling into a smile and slowly building up a stream of laughter. Before he knew it, Ralsei was laughing too.

“Y’know, Ralsei, you’re a real fun guy to hang out with.” Susie put his arm over his shoulder, and Ralsei clapped with excitement.

“You are too, Susie! I love...the hell out of you.” He giggled with shallow giddy breaths.

“Woah, pace yourself. I love the hell out of you too.”


	4. Susie's Super Silly Citrus Sleepover Special

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Kris and Susie Lemon

The pen hovered over the paper motionlessly, being sidelined to a staring contest between the paper and the one sitting in the chair before it. He had gone through half a dozen sheets, repeatedly unsatisfied with the work his hands had given him. After a few minutes of staring blankly at the trashcan full of failed attempts, the pen was put down in favor of holding the boy’s face in his hands, resting his elbows down onto the wood of the table.  
“I’m not sure why you’re bothering writing that; do you think it will really accomplish anything?” His corroded mind bubbled. “You know what you are doing, don’t try to save face with all this sentimental garbage.”  
Ralsei pulled his hands down his face slowly. “That’s not what I’m doing. I just feel bad about leaving them hanging.”  
“Do you think you can lie to me? I know what you’re doing, you’re stalling. You always were a coward. A weakling. All you can do is run away, or depend on other people to do everything for you. You’re a burden on everyone.”  
Ralsei tilted his head down to stare into his lap. “I’m sorry…”  
“If you were sorry, you wouldn’t keep doing it. Now quit being a baby and get up.” With little hesitation, Ralsei rose to his feet, and tried to soothe his aching neck by rubbing it in a pseudo-massage. He was so used to wearing his scarf all the time that it felt weird to just have his neck exposed like it was now. Each step through the castle felt like he had boots of lead, the walk to the exit being slow enough for Ralsei to hold a quick self hatred parade starring himself. He thought about all of the times he had screwed over his friends, even if he wasn’t realizing it. If Susie hadn’t come to see him so much, she’d be doing better in school, and her and Kris would have most likely finished their group project and not gotten in trouble. Even if they did genuinely like him and not interact with him out of obligation, it didn’t matter. Susie had told him that while she wasn’t set on pursuing higher education, she almost certainly didn’t want to if it meant she would have to leave him behind.  
The sound of knocking on his front door yanked him out of his thoughts, and left him quite startled. He was at the door to the library, and time was up. Taking his brain off of autopilot, he reached for the knob and took a deep breath.  
He was going to do this.   
He was going to be brave for once in his life.  
He was going to do this because he loved her.

Kris jerked up in his bed at the sound of someone pounding on his front door, the harsh banging interrupting the total silence of the house. It was usually pretty quiet in Kris’s house, but since Toriel was gone for the night, it had exuded a whole new aura of peace. The teachers at the Hometown K-12 had arranged a miniature vacation to the city to celebrate good standardized test scores, and much to Kris’s joy his mother decided to go with them. Despite him being the only one home, he picked up the pace in receiving the dragon who was currently performing a drum solo on his mom’s front door before she could dent it to hell and back. He opened the door and was immediately greeted with a purple fist winding back to deliver a haymaker rivalling a prairie field in Illinois. Kris immediately put his hands up and backed away, but Susie stopped her fist in the air with a simple grin.  
“Shoulda gotten the door faster, I was about to start kicking.” Hot wind of a laugh passed through her teeth, making a bit of a wheeze.  
“It took me like less than a minute, you dick.” Kris put his hands back down and carefully examined the front door.  
“Would you relax? I didn’t hurt your precious door. Next time it won’t be so lucky though…” She dramatically cracked her knuckles and let herself inside. “You got anything for dinner? I didn’t eat before I came over.”  
Kris closed the door and sat onto the couch. “I told you before that my mom wasn’t gonna be here, and I can’t cook. I kinda anticipated Ralsei baking something for us, but I guess he couldn’t make it?”  
Susie sat in Toriel’s chair, making it recline back from the force. “Nah, he said he had something to do tonight. But it’s never too late to learn, you know. Could be good practice for a skill you’re gonna have to learn eventually.”  
“So you’re already an expert chef, then?” Kris laid onto the couch with his arm dangling off the side.  
“Hey man, I got Ralsei to cook for me, so I don’t have to learn.” Susie rocked the chair back and forth, despite it clearly not being made to do that. “Sorry I’m smart enough to date people who know how to do cool stuff.” She draped her legs over the armrest.  
“Yeah, whatever. I’ll find a guy who can do way cooler shit, and then we’ll make them fight. It’ll be like a double date.” Kris grinned.  
“Yeah right, Ralsei would kick, uh...his...ass?” Susie picked her head up and furrowed her brow at Kris quizzically. “You like dudes?”  
“As a concept, I guess. Not any I actually know, to be clear.” He sat up and leaned back on his hands. “Why?”  
“No reason, I got nothing against it, I’m dating a guy myself.” Kris blinked at her, his expression remaining unchanged. “I just tell my parents you’re gay so they don’t freak out about us hanging out. Or at least, my mom seems to have gotten that point in her head. My dad doesn’t seem to be taking it the same way, though. If ya know what I mean. To be honest, I’m not really sure what category I’d fall under for that, either.”  
“What, like the trans thing?” Kris said rather bluntly, if you asked Susie.  
“Uh, yeah.” Susie cleared her throat.   
“Well, if Ralsei likes you, then who really cares? Someone either likes you or they don’t.” Kris yawned. “Not like there are rules to it. Even if you are a couple of nasty heteros.” A shitty grin grew across Kris’s face.  
“Oh, shut up. Have you seen me drive? My mom is too scared to practice with me anymore because I’m so bad at it. Can you even see over the steering wheel of your mom’s car?” Kris’s grin was transposed to Susie.  
“Hey, it’s not my fault I’m a manlet in a family where the shortest monster is double my height. Driving in this town just seems like a waste, anyway. You can walk just about anywhere, why spend 20 thousand dollars on a car?”  
“Manlet. How tall are you, anyways?” Her grin grew wider. “You still growing?” Susie’s foot bounced against her leg.  
“I don’t know, like 5’2? But that means my hitbox is way smaller than yours, so, yeah.” Kris taunted. “Speaking of which, I’ve seen your parents. Why don’t you have a tail like theirs?” Susie squinted at him. “I’m not trying to have a back and forth of us tearing each other down, I’m genuinely curious. I’d be happy not to have a big tail like that, it looks inconvenient as hell.” Kris got up to a normal sitting position, seeing as it did little to soothe Susie’s glare.  
“I don’t know, man. It was just like that when I was born, I guess. Never grew, so now I just got a freaky looking nub back there.” The genuine discomfort on Susie’s face made Kris regret bringing it up, and made him opt for a tension breaker.  
“Do you want a drink, or something? We don’t have soda, but uh...I don’t actually know what we have.” He stood to his feet, trying to slide over to the kitchen without making it look like he was trying to get out of the conversation. “We have, uh...apple juice, and…” He began to scan through the contents of the fridge, but found that there wasn’t much to write home about. A hand on his shoulder pushed him away from the fridge, cutting him off.  
“Move, let me look.” Susie bent over to look into the fridge, squinting at the direct light. “You really don’t have any soda, huh. I go through like, a gallon of root beer in a week.” Her lustrous gold teeth shined in the light from the fridge as the door was closed, leaving the kitchen dim from the sun beginning to go down.  
“Root beer?” Kris’s face scrunched up in disgust. “I don’t know whether to be more offended by your drink choice or your weird way of measuring quantities of soda.”  
“What? Root beer is the shit, dude. And it’s a liquid, what do you want me to say? Oh, look at me, I drink exactly 8.32 cans of soda a week.” She said in a mocking tone. “When have you had it? I thought your mom didn’t let you have soda.”  
Kris opened the fridge back up and pulled out a gallon jug of chocolate milk, fetching a hard plastic cup from the cabinet. “She lets us get soda if we go out to eat, which is hardly ever, and my brother would always get it. He loves the stuff, and I just don’t understand. It tastes like someone melted a bunch of peppermints in their mouth and carbonated the spit.” He filled the cup up almost to the brim, taking a small sip.  
“Y’know, sometimes I liked it better when you just never said anything.” Susie winced at the thought, taking her hand away from the jug she was reaching for before. “Now I lost my drink appetite.”   
“Good. More for me.” Kris tipped the cup back and took a more hearty gulp. “God damn.” He took a breath from his mouth, catching some air after the brief chug of creamy chocolate goodness. “I am hungry though. My mom goes to the store on sundays, so Friday and Saturday are more like scrounging days. I usually wake up to having more food on Sunday, but I feel like tomorrow that won’t be the case.”  
Susie sat up onto the counter, rubbing her arms. “I got responsibilities when it comes to groceries, I always carry them back in one trip or less for my mom ‘cus her arms are bad. We always go together, it’s kinda fun. We like to make jokes about the weirdos that shop at the supermarket. Weirdos besides us, I mean. You don’t ever go shopping with your mom? Doesn’t that make what you get to eat kinda luck based?” Her legs kicked in the air, bumping softly against the cabinets below.  
“No, I don’t. I hate them, and I hate the people there even more.” His visceral feeling towards such a seemingly harmless location caught Susie off guard.  
“Damn, alright. Got a few bad stories there, or…?”  
“No.”  
The fun and goofy atmosphere of the kitchen up until that point had seemingly fled when the topic came up, making Susie hold her legs still. “Arright, then let’s just forget about it. How much money did your mom leave?” Kris stood robotically still, his head arched down at nothing in particular. “Kris?”  
“Huh?” Kris suddenly reanimated, looking lost for a moment. “What’d you say?”  
“I asked how much money your mom left you. I was gonna ask if you wanted to go get food from somewhere.” She raised a cautious eyebrow at him.  
“Uh, like 20 dollars. You think that’d be enough for both of us?” Kris rubbed his eyes, then put his hand down on the bills that had been left out on the counter.  
“Probably not, but it’s enough. I got my wallet with me. It’s for your ol’ pal Susie to get some food, yeah?”  
Kris fiddled with the bills in his hands, two tens as opposed to one twenty for some reason. “Right.” A powerful force smacked his back, making him jolt forward.  
“‘Ey, what’s eatin’ you?” Susie’s hand rested on his back, the reptilian now at his side with a look of confusion.  
“Did I zone out again?” Susie shook her head. “I’m fine, just kinda tired. Hungry, too.” The hand on his back rubbed up and down for a moment before leaving his sweater.  
“Me too. Figure out where you wanna go, I gotta use the bathroom.” She pointed her thumb back towards the bathroom at the end of the kitchen, and began to walk back to it. Kris took this opportunity to smack his cheeks and snap him out of it, taking a deep breath and sitting down on the couch. The toilet flushed and Susie walked back out to the kitchen, chuckling to herself.  
“Yo, Kris?” She called out.  
“I’m in here.” Kris replied, hardly raising his voice.  
“Alright, sweet. I got something that’ll help wake you up.” The giddiness in her voice was ominous. “But you have to close your eyes.”  
Kris rolled his eyes and immediately knew she was up to something. “Yeah, right. What for?”  
“Because we’re friends having fun, now just do it! And don’t don’t look in here, either.” The sound of Susie doing...something in the kitchen cut through the silence, the sound of the trash can opening and closing over and over again punctuating every move. “That should be good.” Her stifled laughs were poorly hidden as she entered the room with something behind her back. “Close your eyes.”  
Kris sighed and reluctantly closed his eyes, trying to have them open just a crack so Susie wouldn’t notice. Luckily she didn’t, but it also didn’t help very much. “Are you gonna smack me or something? Judging by how hard you hit my back you might take my face off.” He snarked, but felt genuine concern for the wellbeing of his head flesh.  
“No, I’m not gonna hit you. It’s not even gonna hurt, I swear. I just need you to keep your tongue back…” Her hand cuffed down on his chin, holding it up. “Open your mouth.” Her voice was a lot more composed now.  
“Uh...how? Like, in what way?” His eyes looked back and forth despite being covered by their lids. “What are you doing…?”  
“Just open it, it doesn’t matter how.” Her voice was more quiet, sounding closer to his face. After a few fake punches to ensure he wasn’t peeking, Kris felt something against his lips. It felt...smooth? Mossy?  
He tried to pull his head back, but Susie’s head kept it in place. It was wider than he anticipated, making his mouth open more to fit it as Susie pushed it inside. Just as Kris was reaching up to push whatever it was away, he felt another hand go on top of his head and push down, being matched by the hand on his chin being pushed up. His mouth was immediately filled with juice, along with some going down his chin and onto his clothes as well. It was like acid, prompting him to immediately spit it out and open his eyes, being met with a floored Susie laughing so hard she wasn’t even making any noise. The culprit laid on the carpet next to her, a half-peeled lemon with a big bite taken out of it. But Kris didn’t have time to react, instead running for the sink to spit it out. After running the sink and washing his mouth out with water, Kris wiped his face and looked down at the juice stains that now speckled his sweater.  
“I really didn’t think that would work!” She was still laughing when he looked back into the living room, but she had recovered enough to speak. “Oh god, it hurts!” She held her stomach, sounding more like a coughing fit than a laughing one.  
“I let you do it, now I gotta change.” Kris couldn’t help but smile and laugh a little too, even if it was at his own expense. As he ran up the stairs, Susie stayed downstairs and continued laughing on the floor, even after he came back.  
Once they made sure everything was cleaned up, they hit the road and still had no idea where to go. “Jeez, it’s so dark already? I’m freezing.” Susie rubbed her hands together and tried to breathe on them.  
“That’s what you get for dicking around so much. We can turn the fireplace on when we get back home. It doesn’t actually do much in terms of heat since it’s electric, but it makes the room more comfortable.” He kept his hands in the pockets of a grey hoodie he grabbed from his closet. “I would have given you one of my brother’s coats, but it’s too late now.”  
“Great, that’s real helpful. Can you just decide where to go? Or at least get inside somewhere and then think about it?” She shivered and chattered her teeth, realizing that traversing the town on an autumn night was a lot more difficult without Ralsei clung to her arm for warmth. She realized how much she wished that he was there with them. “Actually, I got an idea.” A smile formed on her lips. “You got your keys with you, right?”  
Kris panicked for a tenth of a second, clapping his hands to his pockets to make sure he didn’t lock himself out of the house. He was relieved to feel them in their usual pocket. “Obviously, yeah. Why?”  
“I was in the mood for a burger, but I also don’t want to show my face at that diner ever again. So I was thinking...if you were cool with it, we get some stuff...and go to Ralsei’s. If he’s still busy, we could still dick around down there and get some food with their fake money. It’s not freezing as shit down there, either…” Susie frantically rubbed her arms.  
“Eh, sure. Normally I’d think going there at night is a stupid idea, but all the teachers are gone for the night anyway. What did Ralsei say he was gonna be busy with? I doubt he’d be happy if we just showed up at his door when he was doing something important.” Kris shifted their walking path towards the school, but was stopped by Susie.  
“I know, but I just want him to make sure he’s included if he wants to be. Also, hold up. I wanna get a couple things first. It’ll be fun.” She turned and began to walk the other way with Kris following behind her.  
“Am I allowed to know what we’re doing, or is this another secret?” He got beside her, having to surf the edge of the sidewalk somewhat. “Because I’m hungry.”  
“Then just use your money to buy something here, dummy. Not like you’re gonna need it in the dark world. We might not even be able to, I just wanna check real quick.” She led him to the front of Ice E’s Pizza, which immediately made Kris suspicious. “I just gotta talk to someone here, you can wait outside so the surprise can keep being that.” The words tumbled out of her mouth as a side effect of her excitement.  
“So it’s a surprise now? If it’s pizza, the pizza here sucks.” Kris nestled his chin down into the hoodie, a trick he picked up from Ralsei to keep warm.  
“First of all, the pizza here does NOT suck. Second of all, I’m not getting pizza. Just wait out here for a second, alright?” Susie had one hand on the glass door, pushing it open and visibly shuddering as the warmth inside hit her. Kris followed suit, but only when he heard the cacophony of children yelling and music coming from inside the building. After what seemed like way too much time, Susie came back out with a satisfied look, now being followed by an older looking monster in a ratty black hoodie. Kris’s eyes widened in terror, wondering what sort of idea Susie could possibly have that involved this guy.  
“Hey! Little buddy! I didn’t know you two knew each other!” It was like Kris’s two worlds were colliding in a fiery, destructive explosion.  
“Oh yeah, me and Kris are best buds.” Susie spoke to the disheveled wage worker with sarcasm that seemed unwarranted.  
“Cool, cool. I know lil Kris here from his brother, me and him go way back, remember those days? Do you know when he’s supposed to come back again?” He had a cigarette in his mouth like a sleight of hand magician, or he was actually smoking inside a children’s party restaurant.  
“Nah, we just need you to get some stuff for us.” Susie tried to pull his attention back over to her. “Lemme whisper it to ya, it’s a surprise for lil Kris.” She glanced over to the human with a grin, before leaning over and whispering into his ear.  
“Oh, no can do, Suze. I’m not 21.” He took another puff of his cigarette, shrugging. Susie glared at the tired arcade dweller, having given away the secret.  
“Really? I thought you were like, 30.” She didn’t give him a chance to respond. “Whatever, it’s cool. I think your break is over now, Pizzaface. C’mon, Kris.” She nudged her head back to the sidewalk and began to saunter down like she wasn’t freezing. Kris jogged to catch up with her so he didn’t have to be near that building anymore, the sky now almost completely dark.  
“The big surprise was just getting beer?” Kris put his hands back in his pocket, his physique making him appear more closely related to skeletons than humans. Susie kept walking coolly, glancing back and then suddenly dropping her composure.  
“Damn. I thought maybe he’d come after us and say he actually could get some. He used to get cigarettes when he was underage, what’s the big deal…?” She mumbled, kicking a rock.  
“You know we could probably just get some in the dark world, right? Lancer or Seam or whoever has to sell something like that.” Kris crossed his arms, feeling the fun factor of the outing drip away from being dragged along so much.  
“That’s why you’re the brains of the operation, Kris.” Susie genuinely hadn’t thought of that. “Let’s just get in there before I freeze to death.” The rest of the walk to the school was arduous, with the streetlights not coming on yet and the wind picking up. It was nerve wracking, especially when being in the school at night really made it feel like more of a crime. But once they reached the dark realm, things were easy again. Except that their feet hurt a little bit as they went through the usual song and dance of going through the cliffs and sliding down the sides. They could have probably done it blindfolded at this point.  
“Hello? Ralsei?” Susie knocked on the door to Ralsei’s castle, making sure to do it hard so he could hear it.  
“You think maybe he has important people over? Isn’t that a thing he said he did sometimes?” Kris cringed at the heavy knocks struck upon the door. “I mean, the drawbridge was down, so he’s obviously expecting someone. Did he not tell you what he was doing tonight?”  
“I don’t know, you’re asking a lot of questions here. He just said it was important business. I don’t hear anything going on in there.” She wiggled the knob to find it was unlocked, stopping and looking at Kris. “Do we break into Ralsei’s house again?” She lowered her voice to match his height.  
Kris sighed. “Well when you put it like that, we sound like assholes. Can you just...peek inside and see if you see anything?” Kris whispered back, shrugging. Susie nodded and slowly opened the door, trying to make it creak as little as possible.  
“Uh...I don’t see anything.” Susie poked her head in further while Kris hid behind the door.  
“What do you see?” Kris tried to look around her body, but couldn’t find a spot to.  
“Dude, I mean I literally can’t see anything." She turned back and looked at Kris. "All the lights are turned off.”


	5. Gamma Knife

“What happened to your bravery? Your grand, heroic resolve? This was never about them, was it? This was all just a way for you to run away, yet again.”

The fireplace crackled with heat, the only thing taking oxygen in the room at that moment.

“Well, go on. Do it. Are you scared it will hurt?”

…

“It’s going to hurt them a lot worse, and you know it.”

The front door was slowly closed behind them, pulling any light the two had before back outside. Neither of them said anything, deciding to take this questionable entering slow.

“I don’t think anyone’s home. Can you find a light or something?” A hushed whisper snuck its way out of the dragon’s mouth as she began to brush her hand along the wall.

“A light? How was this place even lit up before? It’s not like he had a ceiling fan or any light bulbs.” Kris replied, being much better at staying quiet. “Probably magic or something, I don’t know. You’re the monster here.” His eyes darted around in the blackness, as if it would make any difference. “Why are we even here? Maybe he’s asleep, and I’m getting a bad feeling from all this.”

“Asleep? It’s only like...alright, yeah, maybe he is. But it usually isn’t like this even if he is asleep. We can just tell him we were worried about him when he didn’t come to the door...I kinda am, actually.”

“Why are you worried? He’s probably just out somewhere. Groceries, or the laundromat maybe.” Kris felt a shock go through him as Susie gasped loudly, along with the sound of something hitting the ground. “Susie? What was that?” He whispered into the inky blackness.

“Uh, yeah...nothing. I smelled him and I was following that, but uh. I think I just knocked over his hat rack.” Her voice was closer to the ground as she knelt to investigate the fallen object. “Well, it’s a tall metal thing with his hat on it.” Susie sighed and stood back up, the sound of her bones popping being loud enough to break their cover if anyone was around.

“You can do that?” Kris walked forward very slowly, holding his arms out to make sure he didn’t bump into anything.

“Yeah...just think it’s weird to tell people how much you can smell ‘em. But...I think something’s wrong.” Air tinted with a new scent drifted its way over to them, allowing only Susie to detect its presence.

“What is? Why do you think that?” Kris tried to make his way back over to the source of the raspy voice, fearing the prospect of getting separated.

“I don’t wanna say unless I know for sure. It’s probably nothing, but try to follow me, uh, somehow. Wait, here.” The sound of fabric shifting was a further beacon for Kris. “Hold onto one of my jacket sleeves, and I’ll get the other.” She held it out, sorta waving it around. A panic began to rise as she wasn’t given a response. “Kris?!”

“I’m right here, I was just trying to find the sleeve.” He said, showing he was now right behind her.

“Jeez, man. You gotta make yourself known. I thought you fell in like a trapdoor or something. Who knows with this place.” She felt the other end of her jacket lift up.

“Alright, got it. And a trapdoor? Really? What gave you that idea?” Kris rolled his eyes but gripped the sleeve tightly, now fearing said hypothetical trapdoors.

“I-I don’t know. Just walk with me.” There was a seriousness to her voice, but the softness of its volume made it difficult to pick up. She held her other hand out to make sure no other objects would be her victim that day and began to walk in a seemingly random direction, but she chose to turn into a hallway. In the hallway was the faintest of light, more than enough to pierce the seemingly infinite darkness.

“What is that?” Kris tilted his head to the side to see around Susie, managing to avoid bashing his head into the wall. Susie didn’t say a word back to him, but she began to walk faster towards the light coming from the ground, now showing itself to be from under a door. Appearing to have forgone their stealth policy, she let go of the jacket and quickly opened the door, visibly shuddering as the scent hit her.

Sweet, metallic ichor.

She was greeted with a pair of eyes so wide they looked afraid of falling out of their head, attached to a trembling Ralsei looking back at her with his back turned. Both his hands were up towards his chest, concealed from view.

“W...What are you…” He began.

“Oh, uh, hey. We were looking for you.” Kris walked out from behind Susie, making Ralsei appear to tremble even more. He was panting, and something dripped onto the carpet in front of him.

“Get out…” Ralsei’s voice was strained, like it hurt him to speak. “Please.” Another drip onto the carpet, but Susie was more distracted by the tears on his face.

“Ralsei? What are you doing?” Susie stepped forth, seeming to fill Ralsei with terror every inch closer she got. “Are you hurt? What are you holding, man? You’re weirding me out.”

Ralsei’s teeth bared and his eyes narrowed as pain wracked his body, as if his own electricity was cooking his chest. “Go away.” He managed to grunt out. “Why are you here?”

The feeling caressed down his leg.

“Uh, are you bleeding?” Kris tried to say with as much brush off as he could despite being genuinely concerned. He watched the red droplet travel down Ralsei’s ankle to join the other splotches on the rug, now noticing the others.

“Ralsei, what happened? Did someone hurt you?” Susie reached for his shoulder to turn him around, but Ralsei beat her to it. This wasn’t part of the plan, why was the world so intent on making everything so hard? These things ran through Ralsei’s head, making him feel like a cornered rat. He turned to face the two Lightners, his shaky breath passing through his growling teeth as he raised his arm, keeping one to his chest. “Holy-!”

“I said go...away.” The front of his robe was terribly stained, and the crimson coated kitchen knife that was now being pointed their way made the two take an instinctive step back.

“Ralsei, what happened? Did you do this? You need to heal yourself!” Susie’s heart began to pound. “Ralsei, can you hear me? She’s not real, please listen to me.” She tried to bring him back to reality, but unfortunately for him, he was well in it. The stains spread downward from where he held his chest, the wetness of them showing that it was still a fresh wound.

“Leave, or I’ll…” Ralsei couldn’t find it in his heart to threaten them, but he did find a growing heat in the point of impact. It hurt. “I’ll do it again.”

Kris looked to Susie silently, turning to her to see what they should do. “Kris.” She said, keeping her eyes on Ralsei. “Go to Lancer’s and get a healer. Now. Bring them here, tell them it’s an emergency.” She stared down Ralsei, almost like she was trying to intimidate him. Kris didn’t waste anytime, nodding and running for the door before immediately returning to a careful walk through the darkness. Ralsei’s face quivered, a spell of betrayal meeting Susie’s hidden eyes.

“Ralsei…” Her voice was soft, staring down at the blade clenched in Ralsei’s hand. “Why? Just...just why. I thought things were getting better.” She looked back up at him, and the hurt in her eyes made his wound seem like a scratch. “Am I doing something wrong?”

Ralsei just stood panting, clutching his chest so hard that blood was beginning to run through the fabric of his robe onto his hand.

“That was a question, man. I’m sorry if I don’t show that I care enough, but I really do.” Her face fell down flat.

“It...It’s not that, Susie. I know you care, but…”

“You don’t have to talk, Ralsei. Just please, put down the knife, and come with me. You’re bleeding a lot, and I don’t know how much time you have.” Her fist clenched and her teeth flashed in a wince, following a tiny whimper escaping her throat. “Fuck. Sorry, just...I need you. Please. We can go back to Kris’s and sort everything out. You don’t have to stay here by yourself anymore.”

Every word she said only magnified the pain that Ralsei felt in his heart. “Stop. Just stop.” He said in sharp exhales.

“Ralsei, please-” Susie briefly extended her hand up to stop him from speaking, seeing how much trouble it caused him.

“No, I need to say this. I hate this. I hate what I’ve done to you and Kris, and everybody.” The heat in his chest grew beyond burning. “I’m nothing but a leech. You’d be better off without me. Everyone would. I’ve tricked you both into at least feeling obligated to care about me, and all it does is...is hurt you.” He reinstructed his fingers to hold the knife tightly, preparing to make another move. “I’m tired of holding you back. All I do is burden you, and make you feel bad.” The weight of his blood seemed to make the knife feel heavier, but not too much for him to lift back up to shoulder height. “I don’t want you to see this, Susie.”

“Well here I am.” She stood her ground, thinking she could at least buy some time. “You know, it’s funny.” Her voice commanded the situation, but her body was too scared to move. “I think about this just about every day. You down here all by yourself, except for that monster in your head. Every time before I come see you, I prepare myself. I prepare myself for what I’m looking at right now.” Something dripped off Susie’s face onto the rug. “But now I know I was nowhere close to prepared. That’s why whenever I leave, and I look you in the eyes, it’s the scariest thing in the world knowing that it might be the last time I ever do it.”

Ralsei felt guilt run through his veins, but the tolerance he had built up to it made it have much less effect. “Don’t you see, Susie? You shouldn’t have to be with someone who makes you worry about things like that.” With a slow, shaking hand, he let go of his chest and held the knife with both hands. “I don’t want to do this, but...I deserve it. I have to do it. Just do it, do it, do it…” He repeated to himself under his breath, pressing his lips together and bringing the knife back, pointing the blade directly at his midsection.

“Ralsei, stop!” Susie yelled, suddenly reaching for his hands, making Ralsei instinctively tense up with the knife out at her. “Ah!” She yelled as it nicked her arm, making her pull it back before she could do anything. Ralsei looked utterly horrified.

“O-Oh my...Susie, I am so sorry, I…” He was beginning to feel lightheaded, backing away from her as she held her arm in pain. “I’m a-” He began to cough, almost bringing him to his knees in pain. “A m-m-monster.” He looked down at the blade in his hand, seeing that the blood on it hadn’t yet become dry dust. As Susie recovered from the shock, adrenaline still pumped through her. She didn’t know what to do, and her heart wasn’t exactly helping her stay calm. She glanced up from her arm and saw Ralsei still standing before her, bringing the blade close to his neck. “I...I haven’t suffered enough, but I can’t take this anymore. Please have mercy on me.”

In that moment, time seemed to slow. Susie saw his eyes shut, and something boiled up within her. She didn’t see her lover, her best friend, or the person that she tried for; all she saw was someone trying to take all that away from her. 

She clenched her fist, and fought as hard as she could to raise it to him.

Goodnight, Princey.

  
  


When Ralsei next opened his eyes, he was laying in a sunny field full of short, pink grass. The blue sky filled the majority of his view, and the gentle breeze made him sit up to surprisingly little pain. His hand went to his chest and his neck, but there was nothing but his clothes. “Um...hello?” He said to himself as he got to his feet, adjusting his glasses. Looking around, he saw what looked to be an ocean of grass and hills in every direction, bathing in the soft glow of the sun. It must have been late in the day, as the sun was making its first steps to going down over the horizon. In the distance, something stood out atop a hill. It was the only thing that wasn’t pink in the sea of grass, making him squint to try and see what it was. He was lost, after all, so any kind of landmark is an improvement. He made his way over towards the grey and white shape on top of the hill. Did it just move?

Once he finally reached the hill, he began to climb up the hill. It felt difficult to move in this strange place, like his limbs were heavy and unresponsive. Not giving it much thought, he struggled to the top of the hill where he could finally get a good look at whatever was up there. Sitting in the grass, overlooking another massive field was a woman. The cloak, the white fur, the nubby pink horns.

It was her.

Immanuel froze where he stood, too much so to even say a word to get her attention. Nonetheless, she turned around and was almost just as surprised as he was.

“Manny?” He had almost forgotten what her voice sounded like. It was just as soft and warm as she was, but now it sounded conflicted. “It...It’s been so long. Come here, sweetheart.” Before he could say anything, she got up and set upon him in an embrace, noting that she looked a lot less tall than he remembered.

“Mom…” He managed to say, hugging her back. She seemed to extend the hold for as long as she could, patting his head and rubbing his back with an occasional sigh.

“You’re so tall now...and your horns...you’re almost a man. Gosh…” She pulled away for a second, only to wrap him up again right after.

There were so many things he wanted to say. So many things he wanted to ask her. He just about had an entire script memorized for if he ever saw her again, but he was struggling to come up with even one sentence. When he finally did speak, it was to ask her what she thought was the silliest question she had ever heard.

“Why are you doing this…?” The hold on his arms weakened around her, hanging on more than they were holding on.

“What do you mean, babyshroom?” They both sat on the grass together, his mother keeping a hand on his head.

“Didn’t I ruin you and dad’s life?” He already knew the answer in his heart, but it happened to be the incorrect one.

“Of course not! You were the best thing that ever happened to us. Why would you ever think that?” She looked down to the side, making a face. “I guess you don’t really have to answer that, but...it wasn’t your fault. Don’t you even believe for a second that it was.” She took his hands in hers. “But, Manny…” Her eyes were full of worry, and a somber acceptance. “You know I miss you, but you are much too young to be here. You’re still a baby, for Angel’s sake.” The soft back of her hand rested on his cheek, attempting to nurse his frown back to health.

“I…” He remembered what had happened, and didn’t have the heart to tell her. “I don’t know.” Truth be told, he really didn’t. He didn’t remember making it to his neck, but maybe he succumbed before that? “Mom, I need to confess to you.”

“I already know, honey. I already know.” Was all she said, laying a finger onto his lips. “It’s okay, Manny. It’s all okay. I know things are hard, and they have been incredibly difficult, but I can’t tell you just how proud I am.” The wind rocked them back and forth. “But you can’t stay with me.”

Immanuel picked his head up. “What? Why not? I went through so much trouble to...to…” He felt the dam getting ready to break again.

“Shh...it’s okay. You’re safe. It’s all going to work out fine. I love you so much. You’re so strong, I know you can do anything. We’ll see each other again some day, okay?”

Before he could respond, she was gone.

In the place of the blue-orange skies was a black one, patterned with glowing green stars across it. But why was everything blurry now? There was no sound except for strange chirps and croaks, clueing him in of his location. The pain in his chest was gone, but when he reached down he felt tight bandages around where he had stabbed. He felt exhausted, and everything on his body felt heavy. The heaviest thing he felt however was the humiliation in his heart, and the weight of seeing Susie so hurt because of him. He couldn’t tell why, but he felt very warm inside beyond physical sensation.

“Ugh...hello?” His throat was dry, and still tasted like blood. The memory of the fields and the hills quickly faded from his mind, but deep down, the words from his mother remained.

Ralsei never would have thought he would need to be convinced to spare someone.


	6. Bleating Hearts

9:02 PM.

A human and a monster sat together on the sofa in the former’s living room, staring at the tv with flat expressions. The downstairs area of the house was bright so they wouldn’t fall asleep, but both of them silently knew they wouldn’t be able to if they tried. They were both exhausted despite the early hours of the night, but the panic and adrenaline from it kept them restless. Relief came to neither of them, whether it was the stress from the situation itself or having to explain it to someone you aren’t the most comfortable with, and it felt inappropriate to do so much as speak. But the mold was broken by the monster when the human suddenly stood up and began walking towards the kitchen.

“Are you going to check on him?” She cleared her throat, not having opened her mouth in what felt like hours. 

“No, I was just getting a drink. Do you want one?” Kris looked back at her, turning his body with his head after a second. He wasn’t exactly lying, but the dragon’s refusal to use his shower despite reeking of blood and sweat after carrying their friend was not doing much to ease his mind. At least now she didn’t have it all over her clothes, he thought. Thank God for magic transport dry cleaning.

She didn’t look back at him, seeming to stare off into space towards the direction of the wall. “Nah.” Susie staggered a reply, like she really had to think about the answer. Kris watched her rise to her feet, and walk his direction. “I think I’m gonna go check on him.” She said as she opened a cabinet in the kitchen and pulled out a cup, filling it with water.

Kris felt like he should have been saying something, as this hadn’t been the first time she went up to see him. Just about every 20 minutes she would get up and go upstairs to look inside the bedroom, and that was even after she sat by the bed and watched him directly. The only way he was able to get her to leave his bedside was to agree to go through and remove any possible danger from the house, including going so far as to push the bookshelf from the hallway in front of his window, just to make sure he wouldn’t go anywhere. He wanted to tell her that he would probably just still be unconscious, but she seemed in no mood to argue. “Alright. I’m probably gonna try to make some frozen shit in the oven.”

Susie didn’t respond to him, the only sound replying being the creak of the stairs as she climbed up them. Once she was at the door to the bedroom, she twisted the knob and slowly opened it. The creak of the door made opening it slowly much louder and more obnoxious, but she was hoping he’d be awake anyway. The light from the hall trickled into the bedroom and her eyes adjusted to the dark, watching the shapes in the dark room grow clearer and clearer. She was sure he was still there due to his scent, but every smell just sort of blended together since they both smelled like a sacrifice to the devil.

“Susie…?” A weak voice said, coming from the corner being poked at by the invading light. Susie’s heart froze, regretting her wishes for him to be awake. What were they supposed to say to each other?

“Hey. Are you up?” She slipped inside so the light outside didn’t overwhelm him, and stood over Asriel’s bed.

“Up…? I’m awake, but um…” She couldn’t see him perfectly in the dark, but she could see that the blanket was pulled up high under his chin, hiding most of his form.

“Guess that was kind of a dumb question.” She sat down in the computer chair, having been pushed over to the side of the bed. He looked the slightest bit more comfortable with her sitting as opposed to looming over him like a bad dream. “So...how are you feeling?”

Ralsei wasn’t expecting so many hard questions right away. He wasn’t sure how he felt, aside from one feeling making itself quite obvious. “Cold.”

“Do you want the blanket from Kris’s bed?” Her voice was far from comforting, making him feel on edge from the seriousness of it. What she wanted to do was tell him to make room, but she wasn’t going to let her fear get the best of her anymore.

“Um, yes please. Thank you.” He said like he was in a hurry to get the words out of his mouth, despite Susie walking over and pulling the comforter off Kris’s bed before he answered. The blanket was gently draped over him, his hands coming up and pulling the second blanket up close to his head.

“I brought you water, also. Please actually drink it.” She pointed at the cup she had set on the nightstand beside the bed, and watched Ralsei sit up.

“Oh, could you turn on a light? I can’t see where you’re pointing...where are my glasses?” He leaned forward, touching his face. “My head…” His hand went onto the top of his head. “I feel so light, but so heavy.”

The lamp beside the bed clicked on, making them both squint for a moment at the sudden light filling the room. They looked at each other and felt a twinge in their hearts, noting how exhausted the other looked with lament. He was still in his usual light world outfit, the only sign of his injury remaining being the bandages still wrapped around him beneath his shirt. Apparently, magic transport dry cleaning only worked clothes. The bandages had been put on by a Hathy in the field while another had performed a ritual for a healing spell that took way too long. I guess healing magic was harder than Ralsei made it look.

“Ralsei, can we talk about something?” Susie spoke up, breaking the momentary silence between them. She wasn’t looking at him anymore, having her head bowed to the floor. “This probably isn’t the best time for this, but...I feel like if I don’t say this now I never will.”

Ralsei had been dreading the inevitable talk that he was going to recieve, even more so now that he saw how uncomfortable Susie looked. “We can talk later if you want to, or, um, I guess whenever you feel comfortable to.”

Susie sighed and rubbed the sides of her face with her hands, his words having the opposite effect. “That’s the thing, man. This is how it always goes. Nothing ever actually happens.”

“What do you mean, Susie? This is how what always goes?” He slowly laid back onto the bed, feeling dizzy.

“I mean that...I don’t know, man. I don’t want to do this to you when you’re like this.” Her hands ran through her hair. “Feels like kind of a jerk move.”

“It’s okay if you’re mad at me, Susie. I understand. I also understand if you don’t really agree, or, erm, like me anymore.” He tensed himself in anticipation underneath the blanket, really not being sure what to expect. “I understand if you want to hit me some more, too.”

There was so much to unwrap that Susie felt stunned for a second, like an eel spending Christmas with his electric in-laws. “That’s a lot of questions, so I’m just gonna say some stuff. I guess first of all, before I say this, I should say that I really do like you, and love you and stuff, but…” She rubbed her neck. “It’s hard. It’s really, really hard to feel that way about you sometimes. I’m not saying you do stuff that makes me dislike you as a person, but, man.” Her hands fell into her lap, and she looked up at him. “I’m scared to love you sometimes, because of things like this.”

Ralsei’s shoulders lowered, and exhaled out of his nose. “Susie...I’m so sorry.”

“No. This is what I mean. You always do this, man. Something happens, and then you say you’re sorry, and then you just do it again. I’m sick of this.” Susie sat up in her seat. “You need to actually do better, Ralsei. You need to try. I know things have been hard, but you need to understand this. I don’t know whatever it is you think, or you think that me and Kris think, but we care about you a whole fucking lot, alright? Do you know how frustrating it is to finally find someone you feel comfortable saying that to, and they just refuse to believe you? It hurts, man, it really fucking hurts.” She didn’t want to be angry. “I don’t know if I can keep doing this, Ralsei. I don’t know how much longer I’ll want to.”

“It’s okay if you want to break up, Susie. I’ll be alright.” Ralsei said, trying to appease her before her voice got any louder.

“I don’t want to break up, are you even listening to me?” Her voice cracked under the weight of holding her emotions back. “I really love being with you Ralsei, at least most of the time. I’m just tired of you always playing victim. It makes it feel impossible to tell you about how I feel, or tell you when I don’t agree with what you’re doing.”

“If you told me, I would have…”

“I’m telling you now. I’m not trying to come up here and tell you to buck up after you just fucking stabbed yourself, but...it’s just hard, okay?” Her head weighed down ever so slightly, and she let out a sniffle. “I just want to help you, but you don’t let me. You don’t let anyone. Why don’t you ever tell me this stuff, man? What was I supposed to do, just...just walk into your house one day and find you...like that?”

In a moment of clarity and revelation, Ralsei felt even worse. His motives had been truly selfish, masquerading as some sort of twisted martyrdom. “I don’t know what to say, Susie. I’m not going to apologize anymore, but I feel like one would be well warranted here.” He tried to sit up again, struggling a little to do so without pulling the blanket up with his legs. “I didn’t know I was hurting you so much. I just wanted you to be happy.”

“Why the hell would that make me happy?” Her voice was even smaller than his was, barely escaping her throat. “Am I not doing a good job? I’m not being sarcastic or anything, I seriously want to know.”

“Please don’t think that, that isn’t what I meant. You’re wonderful, and I really appreciate everything you do. It’s just that I feel like you could do better than me. You deserve better, and I don’t deserve anything. Ah, I’m doing it again, aren’t I?” Ralsei put a hand on his cheek, sighing.

“It doesn’t matter, as long as you see what you did as bad. I’m not mad at you, Ralsei. Just please promise you won’t ever do anything like that ever again. I mean it.”

“I promise, Susie. I just feel terrible for putting you through all this. I don’t know what I was thinking when I decided that would be a good idea, and I’m just a selfish, horrible…”

“Ralsei.” She reached over and placed her hand on his shoulder. “Stop.”

“Ahh, I know, I’m sorry.” She felt warm, bringing him a semblance of comfort. “I just can’t help it sometimes.”

“It’s okay. Everything’s gonna be alright, man. Just, please keep yourself safe.” An additional blurry hand landed on Ralsei’s opposite shoulder, pulling him into the warmest hug he had ever felt before. “I need you.” She choked out, and broke the record for the tightest hug too.

“Oh! Um, I need you too, Susie.” He grunted, making Susie ease up on the squeezing.

“Sorry.” She felt his arms go around her back and weakly hold on, along with most of his weight leaning on her.

“Um, please don’t get up, you’re the only thing holding me up.” He pushed against her shoulders with shaking arms, but it quickly became easier as Susie leaned forward and he slid off her onto the bed.

“You feel that weak? Drink some water, and let’s go downstairs and get some food. We’re supposed to make sure you drink a lot of water, actually.” Susie stood up and rubbed the back of her head, embarrassed at dropping him and for having forgotten.

“What happened after you hit me? Is this a pacification spell still wearing off…?” Ralsei sat up and put a hand on the nightstand, beginning an attempt to get to his feet.

“Uh, no, not really. The Hathys healed you, but you still bled a lot. They gave us a note that said what to do, but we kinda lost it. But I do remember that you’re supposed to drink a lotta water, and that you don’t need a transfusion or whatever.” She quickly grabbed his hand and supported him, getting him up and standing with continued support.

“Ugh, I feel terrible...and I think I smell.” His teeth chattered, holding onto Susie’s arm with his legs wobbling.

“You’ll feel better when you get some food in you. Do you want me to carry you? I think Kris’s got blankets downstairs, I’ll wrap you up like a burrito.” She smiled, putting her hands in a position to prepare to carry him.

“Yes please…” He shook, being scooped up into a bridal carry. “Oh, but, where are my glasses?” He tried to get as close to her as possible, holding his head.

“Yeah, about that. I grabbed them before we left, but uh, I think I broke them? They're cracked. Do you have a spare pair? Er, can you even see anything without em?” She walked out into the hall slowly, trying to rock and bounce him as little as possible.

“I mean I can still see, it’s just a little bit blurry up close. It makes reading things difficult, but I’m really rather fine without them. I don’t have any other pairs, though…” He squinted at the light, then found himself struggling to keep his eyes open with Susie’s warmth enveloping him.

“We’ll figure it out. Let’s just focus on getting you what you need for now. Kris said he was gonna cook something, and I think it’s almost done.” She sniffed the air as she carefully navigated the stairs, an aroma of cheese and tomato entering her snout. “Ooh, I think it’s pizza.”

“Pizza? I think I’ve heard of that before.” Ralsei yawned and rubbed his head against Susie’s chest, the broadside of his horn rubbing against her arm.

“You’ll love it.” She grinned, taking out the damaged pair of glasses from her jacket pocket and slipping them back onto his face. “God, I’d tell you how adorable you are right now if I wasn’t worried about all the blood going to your face.”

“O-Oh, thank you…?” It didn’t stop his body from sending it there. “Do I really blush that much?”

“Dude. You have no idea.” She laughed, and stopped halfway down the stairs when she heard Kris fumbling around in the kitchen. “But it’s cute.”

“You mean it? Well, I think you’re cute too.”

Her knee jerk reaction was once again to say something about how she could drop him, or throw him, or threaten him playfully in some other way, but she was going to try and be better. They both were.

“Thanks.”


	7. Hollowed Knight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi.

Is it still considered eavesdropping if you don’t really have a choice? With the tv shut off in preparation for serious time, and the once frozen pizza now laid on a cutting board on top of the stove, there hadn’t been much of a buffer to give his two monster guests some privacy. Their voices had snapped Kris out of his daydream, though it was more like a waking nightmare. When the room was quiet, with no distractions, Kris could feel something, like a distant distress signal. It was dark; So dark when he closed his eyes he had thought the power went out, jolting his eyes open out of fear only to see nothing had changed.

Why were his eyes swelling with tears?

“Yo, Kris?” The raspy voice in the kitchen called out, making him wipe his eyes in a way that didn’t seem too obvious. “Is this pizza ready?” Her head leaned into view, allowing a glimpse of the cargo she was carrying. Ralsei had his head resting on her shoulder, being carried like he was a child who fell asleep on the couch.

Kris chalked his brief emotional leakage up to being overwhelmed from the events of that day. He was hardly even there for it, admittedly, but what other reason could there be? “Uh, yeah. You need to cut it up first, though. I think we have a pizza cutter in one of the drawers in the counter.” He didn’t get up from his seat, cramming himself into the corner of the couch as far as his body would allow. “Is he awake…?”

“I was just planning on eating it whole like a burrito.” Susie grinned, looking even more tired than usual. “Hop down, Ralsei. It’s dinner time.” She leaned forward slowly and Ralsei’s legs unwrapped from around her hips, planting on the ground and answering Kris’s question regarding his level of consciousness.

“Okay.” Was all he said, appearing to be either focusing on staying up on his feet, or avoiding Kris based on his averting eyes. The lack of a real greeting to him made him think the latter, but his friend’s attempted suicide didn’t seem like a good time to self loathe. An aspect Kris had never considered about this sort of situation was how awkward it was. What were they supposed to do, break the ice?

“You know what’s weird?” Susie said as she dug through the drawers, having made sure Ralsei was steady. “Why does everybody have a pizza slicer? I never heard of someone getting a pizza and not having one of these things layin’ around somewhere. Where d’you even buy ‘em?” She held up the circular bladed utensil, turning it and examining it closely in her hand.

Neither Kris nor Ralsei said a word, either unsure of how light they were allowed to make the situation, or just sort of not listening. 

“I don’t know. Probably the same place you buy any silverware.” Kris said with the gusto of a middle school girl passing the verbal equivalent of a note in math class. He wasn’t even sure if Susie had heard him, or if she was busy cutting the pizza what looked like way too many times. Curious, he stood up and inched toward the kitchen, hoping to simply appear by the entrance before anyone noticed. The darkness of the living room aided him as his stomach betrayed him, despite the only person not blocked by a wall being sat at the kitchen table with his head in his hands. What he saw next made him want to swear off shocks for the rest of the evening, a pizza cut into several rectangle pieces like a grid as opposed to the standard triangles. The monster responsible turned and looked at him for a second, reaching into a cabinet to fetch three plates. “I’ve never seen a pizza cut like that before.” Kris said flatly, staring at the anomaly before him.

“Once you try it, you won’t ever go back, trust me. It’s more pieces, so it makes you feel like you ate more when you really eat less. Plus, like. The rectangles taste better.” Kris stared at her blankly. “You gotta trust me on this, dude. You guys come get what you want first, I don’t wanna hog it all. How much do you want, Ralsei?” She turned back to look at the kitchen table, concern growing in her face at the goat. His glasses were off, sat on the table beside him with his hands on his forehead. His elbows sat atop the table, supporting his head. He merely stared down at the table, not answering. “I’ll just...get you a few pieces to start off. I know you’ve never had this stuff before, so…” Susie felt like she was talking to the dummies at Ralsei’s castle. “Don’t even say you guys aren’t hungry.”

Nobody was saying anything at all, to her dismay. So much for trying to cheer everyone up a little. As Kris scooped a few quadrilaterals of bread and cheese onto his plate, Susie watched Ralsei. He was, well, I wouldn’t say fine per se, but closer to it than this. She couldn’t blame him, but the sudden change confused her. Kris suddenly came into view, sitting at the kitchen table on the same side as Ralsei, but in the farthest seat he could. He caught a momentary glimpse from Ralsei, readjusting his position and finally putting his hands down.

“Ralsei?” She said, making his head perk up to look at her. It had been silent for a little while, but Susie still wondered if he had heard anything from before.

“Huh? Um, yes, Susie?” He rubbed his eyes, looking even smaller than usual in the boss monster sized seating. “Sorry, I’m just a little tired.”

“Do you want a little, or a lot? Or I guess, a middle amount.” She held the spatula in one hand, and a plate in the other. Ralsei looked at Kris’s plate, but didn’t say anything to him directly. “Of what? I’m not sure what it is.” He reached over and put his glasses back on just so he had something to do between sentences. The spotlight burned his eyes.

“You’ll like it, it’s just cheese and tomato sauce on bread. You’re not lactose intolerant or anything, right?” She already began to put some on his plate, gauging his off of Kris’s plate with a little more added on.

“No, I’m not. I’m just not incredibly familiar with all of these light world foods yet. But I’m sure if you made it, it’ll be good...I didn’t know you cooked, Kris.” Kris felt his side taking the heat of Ralsei’s gaze, trying to focus on eating his pizza. He almost never enjoyed eating, so he was very much trapped between a rock and an unpleasant soft place.

“I didn’t make it, I just put a premade one in the oven for 20 minutes. Most complicated thing I know how to cook is eggs.” Kris said with a lowered head, reaching for a napkin from the center of the table.

“Oh, well maybe we could all, um…” Ralsei’s eyebrows fell, waiting for a look of reassurance that never came. “Maybe I could cook dinner for you guys sometime, a really nice one.”

“I like the sound of that. But sometimes you just crave the cheap stuff, so here we are.” A toothy grin stretched Susie’s face, attempting to combat a beam struggle of emotions between Ralsei’s disappointed frown. “Do you guys want something to drink? Oh! Kris, do you care if Ralsei has some chocolate milk? I’m asking because I know it’s like the one food you actually like.” The genuine excitement in her voice over something so minor made Ralsei feel warm and curious.

“Chocolate milk?” Ralsei looked over at Kris again for a second, holding his ocular ground as he spoke up, this time with more enthusiasm.

“Yeah, it’s what you get when you milk a brown cow. You can have some. My mom is gonna buy more in a couple days, anyway.” He flicked his head to the side, getting the hair out of his eyes without getting pizza grease on it. Kris’s foot bounced on the floor, making Ralsei a little bit uneasy. Susie stared at them like they were speaking a different language for a second, and opened the fridge.

“Alright, Chocolate milk it is, then.” She squinted and pulled a half empty jug from the fridge, setting it onto the counter. “You drink one of these every week? I’ve seen you eat, it’s like watching termites.”

“Have to, otherwise my mom won’t buy more the next week.” His bouncing knee nearly shook the table as Susie poured three tall cups, almost exhausting the jug entirely.

“Right, right.” She suddenly took on a much more serious inflection in her voice, handing the other two their glasses before taking her own and sitting down across from them. Her arms were on the table, coming together at her hands to form two interlocking fists. She stared for a moment, and sighed.

“Um, aren’t we going to eat…?” Ralsei asked after a few seconds of no movement from the lizard, making her hands come apart flat on the table.

“Yeah, I just wanna get this out of the way first.” She brought her hands back down to her sides as Kris froze mid bite, putting his pizza back onto the plate and wiping his mouth in preparation for whatever could be said.

“Get what out of the way?” Ralsei rubbed his arms, keeping his chin down ever so slightly.

Susie sighed again, and scratched the back of her head with both hands. “Man, I don’t know. I just don’t wanna sit here and pretend nothing happened. Like shit is just normal again, I don’t want the old normal. We have to do something.”

Ralsei went quiet, feeling the guilt and burden of being a burden weighing on his shoulders gradually. “Like what?” Kris sat up. “There isn’t really much we can do right now anyway.”

“I know, but still, we can start to actually put things in motion. It’s pretty obvious the way things were don’t work. I don’t know how else you could get shown that.” Susie ran her hands through her hair before returning them to her lap. “How about this. At some point, you just tell your mom what happened, and say Ralsei needs a place to stay. Hell, you don’t even have to lie to her, except about the dark world parts. We have tonight to get everything straight, so why the hell not?”

Ralsei raised his finger and cleared his throat. “Susie, really, it’s alright…” He began, but Susie cut him off sharply.

“Ralsei, I would burn that fucking hell hole to the ground before I let you spend another night there by yourself.” Her voice cracked. “I’m sorry for yelling, just...please. What are your problems with this? Do you actually want to stay there?”

Ralsei paused for a second, a little startled from the sudden aggression. “N...No, but I don’t want to be any trouble, or, um…” His eyes darted to Kris’s direction.

“I’m not mad at you.” Kris said rather suddenly, as if he read ahead in the conversation’s transcription. “For anything. Especially not today, alright?” It was robotic, but for it to come from Kris was both reassuring and surprising.

“Are you sure? You don’t have to lie, and I feel like you’re kinda avoiding me.” Ralsei yanked the words out of his heart, feeling inspired by Kris’s openness.

“I’m not avoiding you, I just don’t really know what to say, or do. I’m not used to this sort of situation, if it isn’t obvious. You know how I am.” Kris picked at the cushion he was sitting on, trying to muster up the guts to speak more. “I really care about you, and, uh, I think it’d be good if you were here. My mom already really likes you, and it’s probably your best shot knowing Susie’s parents.”

Ralsei was relieved and pleasantly surprised, a gentle smile creeping across his face. “She does?” Kris nodded. “I don’t believe I have ever seen Susie’s parents, let alone meet them.” He turned to look at the now nervous looking Susie.

“Well, uh, they don’t even really know you exist, so…” She shrugged, cringing a little with an anxious grin. “I think Kris’s house would be a much better fit for you anyway.”

“I’d still like to meet them at some point at the very least.” Ralsei raised an eyebrow at her as she looked to relax a little.

“You really aren’t missing much. My mom is alright I guess, she just sort of works, and my dad is...well, I’ve talked about him. Point is, we all want you here, man. Nobody secretly hates you or any of that, and I’m sure Kris’s mom would be happy to have you.”

Ralsei shifted in his seat. “I think I’m just a little nervous about moving. It’d be a pretty big change, all the people, the new things I’d have to learn...it’s a little overwhelming.” The pebbles rolled off his heart, but the stone remained in place, holding it down. “And…” Nothing came after, like the words following it got lost on the way out.

“And what?” Susie watched Ralsei’s glasses begin to fog up.

“What if she comes back?” Ralsei choked on his words, and he only coughed up more. “What if she comes back, and I’m not there? How do I know she hasn’t come by looking for me while I’m here already?” His breathing started to quicken. “Oh, god. She could be there right now, and, and be gone already.”

“Ralsei…” Susie glanced at Kris to see him looking like a deer in headlights at her, goading her to say something. “Calm down, alright?” She reached over and touched his arm. “Take it easy, man. Everything is alright.” She was reassuring him, but deep down she felt nothing but dread. Judging by how Kris was acting, he was having similar feelings. “I uh, didn’t know you were still...uh,” She looked back at Kris for some help, but he was ducking out. “Ralsei, I’m gonna be blunt here.” Kris immediately began to shake his head at her, but she had already begun to justify it in her head. Like taking the knife out of someone so you can heal the wound, only this would turn out to be a very hasty and messy pull. “I don’t think you’re going to see your mom again.”

Kris’s eyes widened as the house went silent, as if time itself had slowed down on the highway to look at the car wreck on the side of the road that was this conversation. Ralsei stared at Susie as if she had stabbed him in the heart, his mouth agape. Ralsei’s lips were beginning to pull back, revealing his teeth in a trembling snarl.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” The anger in his voice was still dripping from how quickly it was put on.

“Ralsei, I probably could have said that better, but listen to me.” Susie felt the need to back down so much she thought she was back at home.

“Why would you say that?” Ralsei’s fists clenched by his chair, tensing his arms.

She had already started, so she figured there was no turning back now. She tried to think of a way she could let him down more easily, but going off what she just said there weren’t many options. “I think you need to hear it, man. Just...please try and take it easy. I mean it.”

“Hear what? What’s that supposed to mean?” He took his glasses off as they fogged over, giving them both a better look at his tearstained eyes.

“I’m just asking you to relax, okay? Please, man. I know it’s hard, but you need to move on.” Her hand was pushed away, and Kris started to feel the hairs on his arms stand up.

“Uh, Susie,” Kris spoke up, starting to fear where this was heading. His chiming in only proved to be the lightning rod however, as Ralsei turned his head.

“You shut your goddamned mouth!” He barked, startling Kris with his blow up. “You don’t know what you’re talking about!” He quite literally pointed his finger at Kris. “You’re so lucky.”

“Ralsei, please stop yelling. Kris didn’t even say anything.” Susie said, trying not to yell herself. “I didn’t mean anything bad by that, I’m sorry, it was stupid of me, just...please calm down.” She threw everything at the wall, but none of it stuck.

“I’m lucky?” Kris glared back at Ralsei, feeling a similar nerve struck. “How do you figure that?”

Susie bit her lip, looking back and forth between the two. “Guys, hey! Enough!” She raised her voice, but it didn’t help the situation much.

“No, no, let’s hear what he has to say.” They turned their bodies to face each other. “Stop yelling. And I agree with Susie, how long have you been waiting for her?” He was nowhere near as angry as Ralsei, one might even say sympathetic, but his questions didn’t help close the gap.

“She will come! She loves me, and she wouldn’t just abandon me...we’re so close.” Ralsei faltered for a second, before narrowing his eyes at Kris. “Unlike you.”

Susie was confused and trying to diffuse the situation, but the shock on Kris’s face made Susie feel more confused than anything.

“What the fuck did you just say?” When Susie wished that Kris and Ralsei would be more open to getting loud and showing they were mad, this isn’t what she had hoped for. A face of kneejerk betrayal and hate clashed with Ralsei’s.

“When we talked after that time on the beach, and you asked me about your soul, I lied.” Kris shot a quick glance at Susie, his cheeks becoming flush with embarrassment and anger. “They told me everything. I didn’t tell you because I thought it would only make you feel bad, but if you’re gonna hurt me…” Susie’s heart pounded, pleading with Kris in her thoughts to not escalate the situation.

“So what are you saying, then? You think saying that my mom abandoned me accomplishes anything? Even as you lashing out, it’s weak. You think I don’t know? Surprise, asshole, I was fucking there! Why are you being such a vengeful jerk, I’ve done nothing but help you!” Kris held his arms out beside him, hoping that he didn’t look hurt.

A gentle patter began to ring out from the ceiling, replacing any sort of booming thunder.

“I have to listen to you complain about your mom, and...I know I don’t know her as well as you do, but…” Ralsei’s rage went as quickly as it came, it’s following act being remorse in all three of the friends. “I just want my mom back. I want to keep hoping that she’ll come, and we can be happy again. I never miss her any less, and every day I know I’m just lying to myself.” Ralsei bowed his head and put it down on the table, covering it with his hands. Kris sighed and turned back to face forward, leaving the rain as a spectator along with Susie. After a few seconds, Ralsei spoke once again, muffled under his sleeves.

“Do you really think I’ll never see her again?”

Susie and Kris looked at each other, hoping the other would say something.

“Do you think you will?” Susie spoke up first, leaving Ralsei to give a few sniffles and answer for them.

“I don’t know.” His arms went up and hugged his head, grabbing onto his hair. “She doesn’t hate me, does she?”

Kris cleared his throat and sighed, curling his mouth sideways. “We don’t really know either, Ralsei. But holding out there for her just isn’t a good idea. Would she want you to do that?”

After another short pause, Ralsei silently shook his head, and picked it up off the table. “I’m sorry, guys. Especially you, Kris.” He wiped his snout with his sleeve.

“It’s fine, as long as you just try to relax. Please.” Susie held onto his arm.

“Yeah, you can make it up to me by chilling out and getting ready for tomorrow.” Kris rubbed the back of his neck, seeing Ralsei as a mess more than enough for one day.

“Is it okay if I head to bed? I’m so tired, and...cry-y.” Ralsei sniffled again as Susie got up and stood beside his seat.

“Not so fast.” She reached down and rubbed his shoulder, Ralsei immediately responding by leaning his head onto her arm. “You haven’t eaten.”

Ralsei looked up at her with a little whine. “I’m not really hungry, Susie…”

“Hey, doctor’s orders. The Hathy’s specifically told us that you have to have pizza and chocolate milk with us tonight.” She grinned down at him as he began to mull it over.

“They did say that, I was there.” Kris cut in, putting down his cup after a sip. “But the milk isn’t very cold anymore.” He made a face of light discomfort.

“They told us it had to be lukewarm, so even better. Besides, I’ve had much worse milk when my parents used to kick me out of the house.” Susie crossed her arms with ironic pride as Ralsei gave a tired smile.

“Okay, okay. Can we eat on the couch, maybe? Does your mom allow that? These chairs aren’t very comfortable.” Ralsei yawned, standing up and nuzzling up onto Susie with his eyes shut.

“No, but she isn’t here, and we’re doing whatever you want.” Kris shrugged, standing up with them and continuing to eat his pizza with enthusiasm. “We’ll watch whatever you want, but you have to put your glasses back on. It feels wrong to see you without them.” Kris yawned and grinned as he made his way back over to the couch, turning around to see neither of his friends following him. “You guys coming?”

Susie turned her head around, keeping her arms firmly in place under his with a smile. “I think he’s asleep.”

“Well bring him over to the couch, I still wanna eat my pizza.”


	8. No Doubles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PATCH 7.12 NOTES
> 
> • Reduced Ragger range from 400/500/600/800 to 400/500/700/700  
> • Voidburrow mana cost increased to 85  
> • Kris projectile speed increased to 300  
> • Concept of "Pokémon" removed  
> • Removed Gaster  
> • Fixed bug where Kitchen Knife is unable to deal lethal damage  
> • Readded Lancer  
> • Mr. Society's strength increased by 2  
> • Fixed bug that made Alphys's kicking animation cause irreparable damage to users' motherboards  
> • Increased transness ammo capacity for Susie's father by 2  
> • Jevil Dummy can no longer attack players in real life  
> • Removed haunted tree texture

_ Ah, Lilium lophophorum. Oh, my gosh, the first time I've ever seen this in blossom. It's fantastic. And corydalis here. Curviflora. And alium, geranium. Look at that. Should we come up? Oh, my gosh, that's just extraordinary. Lilium lophophorum—it's the first time I've seen it in flower. The petals don't completely dis-attach which makes it so exquisite. _

_ So, we have hardy geraniums, lilies, gentians, euphorbias. There is even an edelweiss here, Leontopodium—which is mostly associated with the Alps in Europe—a spruce, picea; Potentilla; primulas; anemones. It is absolutely staggering the number of genera that we are familiar with in the garden setting that is in this small little piece of land in front of me, that has been grazed by yak and cut for the roadway. Ligularia, botrychium, which is a fern, and arenaria, it's…spirea. It goes on and on. It's absolutely staggering. _

The tv illuminated the dark living room with electric lights of green and blue, revealing the otherwise statue-esque trio sitting on the couch before it. They were comfortably spaced on the large couch, each of them having access to a generously sized cushion all to themselves. Despite this they sat at opposite ends, with the humans occupying the east and the monsters the west. This was done both for strategic table placement for their plates and cups, as well as nobody really wanting to be stuck in the middle with nothing to lean on. Susie was slouched over on the corner of the couch, sleeping with her head on her hand and her elbow on the armrest. Her mouth hung open unbecomingly, but to her luck no eyes were on her.

Ralsei’s eyes were glued to the tv, enthralled by the sight of this strange new flora he was being shown by the humans on screen. It was strange to him to see plants that weren’t their usual pink color, and even more so ones that weren’t the orange-leaved trees he had started to grow accustomed to in his friends’ domain. His curiosity and fascination left him in utter disbelief, and it was the only thing keeping Kris awake at that point.

“Are all of these real?” Ralsei wondered aloud, saying it more like he was actually asking as opposed to just muttering it to himself. The sudden sound of his voice breaking and entering into the silence made Kris snap out of his drowsiness, having thought that the absence of questions meant Ralsei fell asleep too. He had been zoning out, contemplating going up to his bed to sleep, but came to the conclusion that it would be a poor choice to leave Susie and Ralsei alone to get questioned by his mom entering the next morning. Plus, it was a comfortable couch.

“Huh?” Kris sat up, rubbing the glaze out of his eyes as he remembered Ralsei said something to him. Turning his attention back to the tv, he saw several strange looking flowers, one that caught his eye specifically looked like an opened yellow parachute. “I think. Says they’re from China.” He yawned. “That’s like, 5,000 miles away. Just a place. In case you weren’t familiar.” He turned and looked towards Ralsei, popping his neck and clearing his throat. He saw Ralsei wrapped up in one of the several blankets his family kept in the living room for whatever reason, curling his knees up in it like a cloak and leaning onto the sleeping dragon next to him. It was a little awkward, but at the very least he had stopped crying and trembling to look at the plants on tv. Lately it seemed that most of their interaction had been had through trying not to look at each other and sitting about 4 feet apart.

“Doesn’t your dad own a flower shop?” Ralsei asked, keeping his eyes squinted at the tv. 

From what Kris had seen the last time he checked, not for long. Then again, his dad wasn’t homeless to his knowledge, so who knew. “Yeah. He does. Why?”

“Well, um, if it isn’t too forward,” Ralsei brought the blanket closer to his face. “maybe I could get a job there. If that’s alright, I mean.”

“Probably, yeah. It’s just him in there, so he could probably use the help.” Kris tried to say as kindly as possible that his dad’s business was failing miserably through no fault but his own. “Why do you wanna work there? Is it the flowers?”

“Well, partly because of that. The very nice people on the tv brought it to my mind, at least. I just thought that it would be a good idea to get a job, and that seemed like an easy solution.” Ralsei’s shoulders raised with tension slightly. “I mean, um, if you’re still okay with the plan.”

“I am.” Kris prefaced before giving it some thought. He wasn’t stupid, he knew his father probably had no money and didn’t know how he would even pay him, but Ralsei probably doesn’t care about money that much. On the other hand, if Kris made it seem like he’d be doing his mom a favor by hiring Ralsei, then… “I could probably get you a job there. Do you know how to do like...arrangements? I’m not really sure what people actually do when they work at flower shops. You could do deliveries, I know my dad needs someone to do those for him.” He had recalled Asriel doing it for him a few times, but for whatever reason he never asked Kris to help out. Not that he was complaining. He probably didn’t want people to be paranoid that their flowers had been rigged to explode, or gotten human germs on them.

“Um, I could try to do that stuff I suppose, I don’t really have very much experience with flowers. But I do know about caring for trees, for what it is worth.” Ralsei began to carry a tinge of nerve in his voice.

“Trees? When have you cared for trees? I thought they were fine on their own. I’m sure any kind of general plant knowledge will be more than enough for my dad, trust me.” Kris attempted to reassure the cocooned goat beside him, trying to prevent any dread from compounding by nipping it in the bud.

“Well...when I lived with my parents,” The dropping of the P-Bomb made Kris’s heart skip a beat, immediately regretting asking. “we had lots and lots of little trees. We farmed them, but only for the mushrooms that grew around their roots. My job was to go out and gather them all in a sack so that they could tend to the other kinds of mushrooms. I had to wear a cloak, so it could get hot and tiring, but I thought it was fun.”

Fearing a longer tangent, Kris grit his teeth behind his closed lips, easing only when Ralsei decided he didn’t want to go into it any further. But glancing over to him, the wonder in his eyes had faded away. “I’m sorry, Kris. For what I said earlier.” Their eyes met for a split second, Ralsei looking to the side and immediately shifting his eyes back forward. “And I’m sorry for lying to you about it before. I just thought you’d be mad at me, b-but...I guess it didn’t really do me any favors on that end.”

“I’m not mad at you, Ralsei. I was just caught off guard is all. I’d rather you not just start resenting me inside and tell me when you’re upset, as hypocritical as it is for me to say that.” Ralsei nodded. “Like...you can talk to me about that kind of stuff if you want. Whenever. But...if we’re talking about honesty,” Kris shifted in his seat. “I guess I haven’t really been the most approachable in that regard, in terms of being an asshole about it. But now I feel better about it, because you already know everything. I don’t have to worry about you ‘finding out’ about anything. That being said, uh…” He slyly grabbed the remote and turned the tv volume down, finding it anxiety inducing. “how do you know what you know? I can’t really ask what you know without having you say my whole life story, but...I don’t know.”

Ralsei sat up from his leaning, sitting with a more straight up position. “I’m not really sure how to describe it, if I’m being honest. I absorbed your soul, and I could just kinda see it. Like any other memory in my head. Although there wasn’t really much there, probably because you were at a young age.” The nervousness in Ralsei’s smile shone through the darkness, trying not to be as gloomy as the topic was. “But I know you and your mom weren’t very well off financially, and that’s why she um, did what she did.” He looked over to gauge Kris’s feeling, but he remained stone faced as usual. “I don’t recall anything about your father, though.”

“Never met him.” Kris replied rather suddenly, not allowing for much break at the end of Ralsei’s sentence. “He ran off before I was born.” His speech was short and sharp.

“Oh. Um…” Ralsei wasn’t sure what to say. The lack of indication of emotion from Kris’s obscured face wasn’t helping either, not even knowing whether to apologize or not. Kris wouldn’t say anything either, leaving the conversation in a chokehold. In reality, Ralsei knew a whole lot about what was bothering Kris in his life, but until now he had thought bringing it up would be rude or upsetting. Much like himself, he knew nothing would change until someone pushed. “Kris?” Ralsei said after a few moments in silence. “Um, you don’t have to answer this, because I already know the answer, but…” Ralsei took the blanket off of his shoulders and sighed, turning to face Kris himself. “People haven’t been very nice to you, have they?”

Nothing.

“The people you thought you could trust, the ones who are supposed to make you feel safe and happy.” He lowered his voice and got closer, so as to not wake up Susie. “Do they make you feel that way?” Ralsei’s eyes dipped down. “Does anybody?”

Kris stared back at Ralsei from behind his bangs, the volume of his silence far drowning out the seemingly unamused look on his face. He could feel the rot and fester being bled from him, and he opened his mouth to say a single word.

“No.”

Ralsei simply nodded, taking off his cracked glasses and blinking a few times. “I understand how you feel, Kris. I thought once I finally met you and Susie, all of my problems would just go away. I know that you feel like your friendship is lesser to me and Susie because of our relationship, but that isn’t true. You’re my best friend, Kris. I couldn’t ask for a better friend. That’s why I’m not letting my timidity get in the way of saying this anymore.” Kris’s head had turned forward while he spoke. “Are you alright? We don’t have to talk about this anymore, I just thought it would help.”

Kris didn’t say anything else, but Ralsei wasn’t really expecting him to. He knew that words weren’t his strong suit, especially these kinds of words. They’d get stuck in his throat, and he’d say nothing at all. However, Ralsei knew something else about Kris, and he didn’t need words for him to know. Despite this, he still thought he’d ask just in case.

“Would you like a hug, Kris?” Ralsei gave him a smile, worrying he had laid on the questions a little too thick. His voice was soft and as comforting as he could make it, watching Kris’s mouth suddenly go crooked. A nod of approval was all he was willing to respond with, but it was all Ralsei needed. Kris was very much a receiver of hugs rather than a giver of them, always either not reciprocating at all or giving a half attempt to avoid ridicule from family members. It had always felt bastardized, like a fake show when he knew how he was really treated. But Ralsei knew his secret, one that Kris would never tell you. He loves hugs, but only with the right people.

In reality, he was actually rather craving in terms of physical affection, but even when you’re hungry you won’t like eating rotten food. As the two white arms gently draped themselves around him, Kris felt his body freeze up for a moment. Ralsei knew Kris could be cagey, so he just waited for Kris to start to pull away as the signal to stop. But after starting and stopping a few times, Kris’s arms went up and around Ralsei as well, differently than usual. Kris wasn’t just holding onto him, he was holding him. Very tightly, actually. Ralsei felt himself be suddenly pulled forward, his shoulder acting as a rest for Kris’s head to rest against. A short, jagged breath was all Ralsei needed to tell what was going on, and he gave the human’s back a gentle rub.

It moved Ralsei to the point where had he not been healed already, he would have felt like his friend’s tears themselves would have healed his wound as they dripped onto his shirt. “You don’t have to say a word, and I’ll just keep doing this, alright Kris?” He couldn’t hear anything but the sniffles and choking of breaths, but it was the sweetest sound he had ever heard.

“Please don’t go.” Kris finally managed to say, quick and quiet. His grip on Ralsei got even tighter, almost making him grunt. But rather than feeling guilty and sorry for himself, Ralsei saw a chance to make someone he cares about feel more secure.

“I’m not going anywhere, Kris. You really don’t have to worry about this, I promise.” The face burrowing against his shoulder pressed in more in delight at his words. “So, do you want to talk more about getting me to move in? Um, if that’s something you want to do.” The nod for yes felt a whole lot more genuine when he could feel it himself. “Good. I’m excited for it too. We’ll all be together, and it’ll be so much fun.” Ralsei felt himself starting to get louder with excitement mid sentence and quickly dialed himself back. The hold around him began to loosen as Kris began to calm down, quieting to just sniffling and clearing of his throat. “Do you want to talk about furthering that plan some more? Er, your mom gets back tomorrow, doesn’t she?” Ralsei chuckled nervously.

“Yeah…” Kris spoke again, clearing his throat before and after. “I think I’m alright now.” Kris wiped his eyes, getting the tears and hair out of them so he could see properly.

“Are you sure? It’s okay if you aren’t.” Ralsei put his hands together close to his chest, smiling softly. “If you ever need to do that, just ask. Or maybe we can have some sort of code…” Kris cracked a grin.

“Uh, maybe. Just uh, if you ever wanna do that, you can just kinda, like, do it. Or if you might think I need it. I probably will anytime you guess.” Kris coughed into his hand.

“Aw, Kris. Are you sure you’re alright?” Ralsei tilted his head, turning to a look of concern and hug prep.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Should we wake Susie up if we’re doing this? It’s only…” Kris took out his phone and shrugged. “It’s like 11:30. My mom is almost definitely asleep, either that or she is drunk. I don’t know what those school people get up to, but I could just text her what happened a little later. Her seeing that while she’s drunk at midnight is pretty much the worst case scenario.”

“Um, I guess we should. If not I guess so she feels included? Oh! She needs to move the bookcase, too.” Ralsei fiddled with his hands, standing up to his feet. “So I guess I should wake her up.”

“I’ll do it. You need to shower if we’re gonna do this, so you look nice. Or would it be better to make you look mangy…? Eh, just go shower.” Kris got up and flipped the light switch on, immediately making Susie stir and clench her eyes shut.

“Do I look mangy?” Ralsei mumbled to himself, touching his hair. “Um, I don’t really know how to use your shower. I saw it in the bathroom, and it looks a little overwhelming...maybe Susie could help?” His eyes looked away and his cheeks burnt up. “A-And maybe make sure I don’t fall in the shower?”

“Ugh, what are you guys doing…?” Susie groaned, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. “It better not be morning already, or I’m gonna be really pissed.” Kris raised an eyebrow at the hostility.

“Don’t worry, she always wakes up like that.” Ralsei leaned against the wall for support, watching Susie grumble into reality. Once her eyes opened, she looked at the window and saw that it was still dark.

“Why’d you wake me up?” Susie’s grouchiness slowly began to make way for grogginess, widening her eyes a couple times to wake up.

“We’re doing important stuff, and Ralsei needs you to help him shower.” Kris stretched his arms out in front of him.

“Huh, alright.” Susie stood up and yawned, scratching her side and rubbing her arms. “Was wondering why we weren’t actually doing that when the deadline is literally in like 12 hours, but I just thought we’d wait until the last minute in true Kris fashion.” She narrowed her eyes and grinned, turning towards Ralsei and walking over to him with her arm out. With a smile he grabbed onto it, walking with her towards the bathroom. “Let’s go Rals, you do kinda stink.”

Kris got out his phone and sat down on the couch, beginning to formulate what to even say to his mom to make her aware of the situation. He started to wonder if he should wait for them to come back for proofreading, but he thought he might as well start something.

“You want me to stay in there with you, right? There’s probably something you can hold onto in there like a bar or somethin’. Not that I don’t want to, I just don’t want you to be uncomfortable.” Susie grinned with embarrassment as they reached the bathroom door.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to, maybe you can just stay outside by the door? I’ll keep it unlocked. But, it’s not like it’s the first-”

“I KNOW!!!” Susie interjected, her face going blushy and toothy to Ralsei’s giggle.

“I’m just teasing you a little bit. Whatever you are comfortable with is fine.” He hung on Susie’s arm, putting his cheek on her bicep with a happy smile.

“Now I’m definitely going in there with you, wise guy. I wouldn’t want my favorite Snoballs getting hurt.” She grinned back at him, stealing his smugness and replacing it with her flustered cheeks like she was raiding a temple.

“Um, well…” He tried to think of a retort, but was led inside before he could make one.

“Just get in the shower, it’ll be quick. You look kinda mangy, and I don’t want Kris’s mom to think you’re some hobo.”

“Am I mangy?!”


	9. Tiny Bugs Living Between My Shower Curtains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little update for a little man

Water rained down upon Ralsei’s head, the feeling of the near scalding water gently caressing the freshly closed wounds in his heart as his eyes stayed shut. One hand was locked tightly onto a bar in the shower, keeping him balanced as his mind began to water. The high of comforting his friend was fading, and he was beginning to realize his own situation once again. He was thankful for the noise of the shower as it let him feel at least somewhat alone in his thoughts, but it didn’t last. At that moment, Ralsei’s soul didn’t have any more anger to fuel a fire inside. There was nothing to be angry at anymore, and nobody to hate. His father, his neighbors, they had all been far left behind, cut off by the last thread that kept them and Ralsei connected. Blurry memories of faces and voices were all that they were now, and all that they ever would be. All that she ever would be. If he were to cry, in the shower would probably be the best place, but he couldn’t bring himself to even give so much as a tremble of his lip. His head just stayed tilted down towards the drain, watching the water run down into it infinitely. He had finished washing himself a few minutes ago, but he couldn’t move as if the weight in his chest prevented him from doing so at all. He really had been living in a fantasy world, he thought, to believe that he would ever realistically see her again, but at the very least he could take solace in that there really isn’t much else that could be taken from him. He felt a justice in his pain and shame, now realizing that this feeling of loss was what he had tried to give the people who never truly wronged him, and he now suddenly wished he felt worse.

Susie was leaning against the wall outside the shower, having taken to her phone as a means to try and pass the time in what felt like an hour long shower. She had already run out of things to browse earlier on the couch, but her mind wandered too much to put much effort in beyond staring at one screen. She was still kicking herself for what she said during dinner, and how upset it had made Ralsei. She wasn’t really sure what she expected, as verbally clotheslining Ralsei by dropping that his mom was probably long dead wasn’t exactly a sit-down-and-hold-hands scene of gentle news breaking. Suddenly the water turned off, and Susie’s head snapped back up at attention to prepare to assist Ralsei. She grabbed a towel hanging beside her and held her arms out towards the slowly opening shower curtain, being met with a very tired and very waterlogged Ralsei. He grabbed the towel and began to dry off, leaving Susie to bend over by his clothes and slowly pick them up and arrange them randomly for as long as possible to avoid looking over at him.

“Nothin’ like putting the same dirty clothes back on after getting nice and clean, huh?” She feigned her usual toothy grin, but a genuine one just wouldn’t be hers. “I do that sometimes, too. But seriously, do you want me to ask Kris if you can borrow some of his clothes? They might be too small, but uh,” She turned her head to thankfully see Ralsei wrapped in a towel. “You probably don’t wanna get back in these sweaty clothes.” She was met back with Ralsei looking at her, like he was waiting on something. “Right, I’ll go ask Kris, heh.” She stood up and started to go for the door, but stopped as Ralsei held his hand out.

“Can you help me out of the shower, Susie? I spaced out for a moment, there.” Ralsei yawned, the hot and heavy air making him grow sleepier by the second.

“Oh, shit, yeah, my bad.” Susie stopped and took his hand, letting him stabilize himself as he stepped out. She let out an awkward half-chuckle, and coughed into her hand. Once he was on the tile floor, she pointed her thumb towards the door and let it hang for a second before speaking. “So, your clothes, or…?” She began, watching as Ralsei bent over to put on his used set of clothing for the day.

“It’s alright, I wouldn’t want Kris to feel like he has to share with me when he doesn’t want to. He doesn’t seem like he has very many clothes to begin with.” He slid his lower half of clothing on first, making Susie wonder what Ralsei wears under his robe in the dark realm, if anything at all. “Would you like to go back to bed? I’m sorry we woke you before.” After a careful sliding of his shirt over his horns, he walked back up to Susie and held her arm gently.

“Usually I’d say as soon as possible, but I’m not sure what Kris wants us to do. I’m in prep mode for an encounter with a less-than-happy Kris’s mom, and she’s like the scariest lady I know.” The fearful look in Ralsei’s eyes told her that she probably wasn’t helping him out. “I’m exaggerating.” She wasn’t. “I’m sayin’ I’m nervous about the whole thing is all, makes me want tomorrow morning to come as slowly as possible. Y’know?” He responded with a nod of understanding as Susie opened the door, letting the steam from the bathroom blow out and greet them with the comparatively cool air of the house. It was refreshing, especially after being trapped in a sauna of a bathroom fully clothed, 2 feet away from a naked guy that she wasn’t necessarily opposed to seeing in such a way, but they weren’t really there yet. Walking out into the kitchen, they saw the bottom half of Kris draped down over the couch, still as a statue. Upon further inspection, he was just staring at his phone screen, like his boyfriend was taking a shower in front of him.

“Oh, hey.” His eyes moved over at them for a second, still keeping most of his focus on his phone. “Huh. You look weird when you’re all wet.” Kris said, giving Ralsei a second look.

“Um...how so?” Ralsei looked down at himself, then back up at Kris with a hint of worry in his eyes.

“I don’t mean like bad, it’s like,” Kris squinted at Ralsei’s head. “You know when you have a really poofy dog, and you get it shaved? It’s like that. You just look...small.”

Ralsei blinked and straightened his mouth out. “I think I understand what you mean. Um, thank you, I suppose.”

Susie rolled her eyes and led them to the couch, seating Ralsei next to her. “So, what are we doing? Did you call or text your mom yet?” She turned to look at Kris and tried to spy his phone screen, but the brightness was turned too low to see much of anything.

“Not yet, but I’m trying to figure that out now. I’m not really sure what to say to her, but at least she is probably asleep by now.” He scratched his head and brushed his bangs aside. “It feels weird to say all this.”

“All what? What do you have so far? Lemme see.” Susie held her hand out for Kris’s phone, her other arm still being held onto tightly by Ralsei.

“I can read it off to you, hold on.” Kris leaned away from her hand, holding his phone away for a second and clearing his throat. He’d rather die than have someone that wasn’t him in possession of his unlocked phone.

“Fine, let’s just get this done.” Susie let her hand fall onto the couch, lowering her eyelids at the human as he began to read, albeit hesitantly.

“See, that’s kinda the thing. I have no idea what to say, or even how to start it. Mentioning the uh, you know, feels like kind of a blindside, but if I don’t say anything then she might get the wrong idea and think we’re trying to trick her into having an extended sleepover.” Kris shrugged with embarrassment.

“Well figure it out, because I don’t wanna sit here all night. I mean, we’re all probably pretty tired. It’s like 2 in the morning, man. I think the best thing to do is to just say something short and to the point, and we can talk about it more later when she actually has some idea of what’s going on. Do you want me to write it? Hell, I can just tell you what to write if you’re so scared of me looking through your phone.” Susie mocked and wiggled her fingers in the air at Kris like a boogeyman.

“It’s my personal property, what’s so bad about me not wanting you digging around in my private things?” Kris furrowed his brow, and Susie could actually see it now that he didn’t have a therapist’s waiting room waterfall of brown hair blocking half his face. “Just tell me what to write, that way your big sausage fingers won’t accidentally hit send or scratch up my screen. I’ve never damaged a phone screen and I’m not gonna let you break my streak.”

“What if I wrote it?”

Kris and Susie stopped bickering for a moment to look at the small voice peeking out from behind a scaly purple wall.

“I’m not really sure why you’re both so afraid of her, she seems very nice.”

“That might not actually be a bad idea.” Kris put a hand on his cheek, scratching it with the palm of his hand. “She doesn’t have a reason to think you’re lying to her, and you are probably more confident than both of us combined.” Kris wiped his phone screen with the bottom of his shirt and held it for a second. “Do you really want to?”

“Oh, um...I could certainly try. You’d have to show me how to work it, and, um...preferably leave me alone for a little while for me to say what I want to say.” He scrunched himself behind Susie’s arm.

“Yeah, that’s smart. She probably doesn’t trust me, and who knows what kind a’ shit Kris puts her through.” Susie tried to comfort Ralsei and pat his arm, both because she thought it was a good idea and because she really didn’t want to have to tell Kris’s mom any of this. “I can take you up to Kris’s room and we’ll give you some privacy if you want. You should probably be in bed anyway, man. Shit, this day has felt like a week. You shoulda just come to the sleepover with us, huh.” Susie planted her hand on top of Ralsei’s head, rubbing it with little movements.

“Um...sorry.” Ralsei thought to say as a sort of blanket answer to her multitude of questions. Her thumb combed down his ear, putting more of her arm around him in a sort of snuggle. Susie was too tired to care about pretending to not like nice things at the moment, and it was most likely for the better.

“Just don’t let Susie have the phone, Ralsei. I trust you enough to know you won’t dig through my personal business.” Kris handed the phone off to Ralsei, bridging his arm over Susie with a stretch forward on his knee. Ralsei hesitantly took the rectangle in his hand and looked at the screen, already holding it in such a way that half his hand was touching the screen. “Er, actually, you should probably let Susie hold it for now. She’s gained my trust.”

Susie made a mocking smile at Kris and grabbed the phone out of Ralsei’s hands before he even really knew what was going on.

“Did I do something wrong?” Ralsei rubbed his sleepy eyes, being lifted off his seat by the rising of Susie’s arm.

“No, I just gotta teach you how to use this thing. You’re gonna need to know how to if you’re staying in our world. Everybody has one.” Susie looked to think for a moment before looking back at Kris. “Kris can let you use his phone to text me when I’m not around if he wants to, but he should know that if he looks at our messages he’s dead.” She squinted.

“I don’t want to see that stuff from you guys, I’ll just teach him how to delete chatlogs for when he’s done.” Kris shook his head with a sly grin as Ralsei yawned again, looking confused and overwhelmed at all the learning he had to do at 2 in the morning. “We’ll figure it out, don’t worry about it. Right now you just gotta learn how to press the letter buttons on the screen. Susie will show you, it’s easy. No rush, you just have to get something sent.” Kris laid down onto the couch, taking up most of the space. “Or I guess technically we could just talk to her tomorrow, but then she’ll be in a bad mood first seeing you guys here without me asking her…” As Kris mumbled to himself, the other two were already heading upstairs, eager to end this day once and for all.

As they walked up the stairs, Ralsei looked up at Susie, then behind him. “What does Kris not want us to see on his phone? I guess it isn’t my business, but I can’t help but be curious.”

“I’ll show you.” Susie laughed, receiving a disapproving look from Ralsei. “I’m joking, relax. I don’t want to know either.”


	10. Broken Ribs

_ BANG. _

_ BANG. _

_ BANG. _

_ BANG. _

  
  
  


_ BANG. _

In the darkest corner of the Card Castle dungeon, the one other, as well as least favorite, resident prisoner was wide awake, as they had been for the last month and a half. This was evident by the repeated sound of thumping coming from inside their cell, a solid and heavy metal safe with a blanket put over it. While not terribly loud due to the small stature of the prisoner, the repetition of the sound was enough for the old King who ruled the basement to repeatedly request a change of cell location, and a hasty acceptance from the guards who found it actively hindering their old bosses rehabilitation, if not actively making him more hostile. Nobody dared to open the safe even once since it was sealed shut, the castle staff being either too scared or under the impression that the little red heart functioned as some sort of powerful artifact as opposed to a living thing. Some even began to say the dungeon was haunted, but that was more a symptom of things being slow now that they weren’t hunting for a people group.

It was a perfect square. Every wall was the same, and they couldn’t tell what was the floor and what was the ceiling anymore. At first, they had come up with a system to remember using dents in the metal made from repeated bashing out of sheer boredom, but as time slowly ticked by they began to care less and less. There lacked a single smooth surface on the inner linings of the safe, preventing any sort of comfortable rest or organization. There was no sense of time, and there was really no reason for it to exist inside the metal box. For all the Soul knew, time had ceased to exist whatsoever. There was no universe outside of the box. Nothing mattered out there. This was the only place in the world where they were actually supposed to be, and they weren’t even sure the side they smashed themselves into for that session was the door. Days had died along with the light, and the only measurement of how long they had been trapped was how much their body hurt, if you could even call it that. It wasn’t that they had given up, it was that giving up was quite literally impossible. In fact, giving up was the only hope that they had left. Their body was their only key, both to the box and to their existence. Whichever broke first was a victory, no matter how much it was beginning to hurt.

They just

_ BANG. _

had 

**_BANG._ **

to keep

**_BANG!_ **

going.

  
  


_ Click. _

The first sound they heard since they were abandoned in the safe that wasn’t smashing flooded their being, and they were suddenly assaulted by light and wind as the creaky metal door whipped open behind them.

“Alright, now press install.” Susie giggled with more excitement than most people ever saw her show for anything, pointing at various coordinates on the screen of Kris’s phone. Ralsei was following these commands with little resistance, but he also felt just as much approval. Though he had to admit, Susie’s happiness from doing something as simple as installing shitty mobile games on Kris’s phone as a joke was somewhat contagious. It had started as something of a warm-up to get Ralsei used to the manner of operation, as he had never used anything like it before. He still got overwhelmed trying to operate the filtered water dispenser on the front of the refrigerator, and that was only 4 buttons counting the ice.

“Um, this is fun and all, but…” Ralsei started to say, leaning to his side to be able to look up at the face of his seat/girlfriend. “Shouldn’t we be writing to Kris’s mom? I don’t want to keep him waiting, and it’s getting really late…” The tired look on his face was held up by pure nerve, both at learning something so seemingly complex during the witching hour and facing Toriel.

“I know, I know, I just wanna get you comfortable with all the buttons and stuff. Maybe you’ll get one later and I can keep you up all night even when I’m at home.” Her hand brushed the side of his face, lightly flipping his ear over. “But, yeah, you’re probably good. I could probably just do it for you, but uh…” Susie felt herself on the brink of sweating at the thought of typing vulnerably to her former teacher, as well as the pressure of not hitting send prematurely with her large hands, as she was prone to do. “I wouldn’t want your thoughts to get uh...watered down, y’know?”

Ralsei nodded his head and looked back down at the phone, holding it in two hands like it was an offering to a king. “I suppose you’re right. Plus, practice makes perfect, right?” He tried to keep assurance of a positive outcome at the front of his mind in order to avoid anything but giving it his all, even if it was just sending a text to his friend’s mom. “But...I hardly know her at all. I can’t just come in and ask to live with her. What if she only says yes because she feels like she has to, and then she just silently hates me for invading her home?”

“Man,” Susie reeled one arm back up Ralsei’s collarbone to his shoulder, rubbing it softly. “Just relax, alright? Kris’s mom can be scary, but I don’t think she even can hate somebody, unless you’re her husband. If she can love Kris, she can love you.”

Her words of encouragement left Ralsei to not give a response, and she reflected on the unintentional harshness of her words.

“I didn’t mean that Kris is hard to love, just that like, she didn’t...give birth to him. He can be a little shit sometimes, but uh...I don’t know.” She fumbled about.

“I understand what you meant, Susie. I-I just, I don’t know how good I feel about this anymore.” He gently set the phone down onto his lap, the screen having since turned off from inactivity.

“What do you mean?” Susie’s arms pulled back and rested down on the bed where they sat. “You got that look on your face like it’s talking to you.”

The sudden acknowledgement still caught Ralsei off guard, and made him try to focus more on what Susie was saying. “Huh? Oh, um, yes. I mean, yes, she’s talking to me right now. It’s not really helping.”

“Don’t call it a she, man. It’s not a person. It’s not real.” Susie said with more anger than she intended to. “It doesn’t know what it’s talking about, alright?” Her concerns did little to remedy Ralsei’s cold feet, as well as the onset of guilt he began to feel in his stomach.

“I-I...I don’t know. I haven’t gotten the chance to talk to Kris about it very much…” Ralsei’s arms tucked in close to his body.

“Kris is different. I...honestly don’t know what that guy has going on. But it’s not the same thing as you. Your thing has a name and all that, doctors can treat it.” She scratched her head, telling that she maybe didn’t know as much as she let on. “But let’s take this stuff one step at a time. Can you tell me what’s got you scared? I swear, nothing bad will happen. Nothin’s gonna touch you as long as I’m around. Except me. Kris too, if you want. Nothing you don’t want to will.” Susie cleared her throat.

“Thank you. I always feel very safe around you.” His head tilted back onto the space right before her neck, feeling a brush of extra warmth like she was wearing a scarf. “It sounds odd, but I almost don’t want her to like me.”

“Kris’s mom, you mean?” Susie raised an eyebrow. “Why not?” She felt like she knew the answer, and her brow furrowed anticipating the self-loathing she expected him to confide. She always loved to listen to anything that might bother him, but hearing him berate himself was never fun by any means.

“I don’t want her to replace my mom.”

Susie kicked herself for acting so jaded. “Ralsei...I’m sorry. Both for what I said, and just...for everything that’s happened.” She wasn’t sure what else she could say.

“It’s alright, Susie. It isn’t your fault. You do so much for me, and I know what you were trying to say. It’s just not an easy thing to swallow.” He rolled his head towards the side, bringing his hands up to his chest with a sigh.

“Don’t fall asleep, we still gotta do this thing.” Susie patted him on the cheek gently, but with a quick upbringing to make sure. “It doesn’t have to be a long message, I don’t think. You just gotta let her know what to expect when she gets home, alright? Tell her that you don’t have a place to stay, and me and Kris will back you up.”

Ralsei sat back up and rubbed his eyes before leaning forward and attempting to crack his back, arching it and pushing it forward with his hands. “I don’t want to make you two do anything you don’t have to.”

“No, man, really. Telling her everything that happened yourself is way too much. I don’t expect you to be that open with someone you hardly know. You can just rest, and we’ll explain what happened. She will probably want to talk to you, though. But it probably won’t be like an interrogation.” She sat up with him and patted his back. “Hop up for a sec. I wanna crack your back, then we’ll finish this thing.” A little smile trailed across her face as they both stood up.

“You don’t have to, I’m alright.” Ralsei protested, trying to keep her sat down.

“Can I?”

“Do you really want to?”

Susie laughed. “Hell yeah. You’re like bubble wrap, and it’s an excuse for me to really squeeze you. I’ll be careful this time, I promise.”

“Alright, fine. Just give me a warning this time.” Ralsei looked up at her with a shy smile, holding his hands together.

They felt like they were being crushed as they were suddenly yanked back, into the dim light of the dungeon. They struggled against the iron grip that held them captive, but it only seemed to make it angrier. They probably would have broken if their captor’s hands weren’t as weak and soft as they were, but it was hard to recognize who it was after being alone for so long.

“Listen.” A voice said, and all doubt of who it was was removed. Even after all that time of isolation, they would never forget the voice of their brother. Their hard edges threatened to cut into the human’s blue skin, now staring back at them. Now that they were actually out, they couldn’t believe it. They didn’t know what to do next, but luckily that was being decided for them.

“You know why I’m here, but not every reason. I haven’t been able to sleep, I’m sore all the time, what the fuck have you been doing? I know the usual separation symptoms aren’t this bad.” Kris barked, not knowing why he was expecting some kind of rebuttal. “Look. I have a deal for you.” The soul stopped squirming to listen intently, knowing one wrong move would land them right back in the safe. “I’ve known you my whole life.” He didn’t think there were words to describe the current situation, so he was trying his best. “So I know what happened last month...we may have shifted the blame entirely on you. Not to say you aren’t at fault, but, hey, I’m in charge here.” He eyed the soul closely, remaining still in his clenched hand. “Ugh, I don’t know how to even say what I want to say, so let me get to the point. I feel bad about putting you in there, and I realized today that isolation really only makes things worse. So I’m gonna make you a deal, like I said.” Kris slipped one arm into his armor and tucked his head down, sliding it down the arm with the soul in it until it fell onto the floor. “Either I lock you back in there forever, or,” The Soul began to twitch in his hand. “Or!” Kris repeated. “I’ll let you come back in.” He pointed at his chest with his thumb, poking it a couple times. “Under a few conditions. First of all, I’m not letting you take control anymore. You’re a passenger, understand?” He pointed at the soul aggressively. “Second of all, if you do try to make a move or do anything stupid while I’m asleep, I’ve arranged for Susie to rip you out, or if worst comes to worst, kill me.” The Soul immediately knew that Kris was lying, but they were already on board. They would cry with joy if they were able to, and pondered asking Kris if he could for them once he was inside. “Do we have a deal?” The intimidation he was going for was dampened when he remembered the Soul would have no way to say one way or another. “Just...up for yes, down for no. Can you even hear me?” The Soul quickly jerked themselves up towards Kris’s fingers to answer both of his questions. “Alright, good. I was hoping this wouldn’t take too long, because it’s already late. Hold still.” He stretched his arm out as far away from his chest as he could, and loosened his grip on the soul enough as to not hurt his fingers. Getting it back in was always much less painful than pulling it out of his chest, mostly because he always had to dig around to find the unwilling Soul inside him. But while the tired and sleep deprived Kris thought about it, he felt the Soul suddenly wiggle free of his hold.

His hand instinctively went up and swatted at it like a mosquito flying by his ear, but the red heart shot like a bullet into his chest of its own accord, rendering the procedure painless. However, it was definitely strong, as he fell to his knees from the powerful shock he felt surge through his body. No longer did he feel like he was anemic, or a walking corpse lumbering from place to place. For the first time in his life, Kris felt strong. This quickly dissipated as he got to his feet however, the soreness feeling doubled along with the tiredness he felt in his legs.

“Phew.” Kris took a deep breath, preparing himself for immediate rebellion. “Dick.” He mumbled, rubbing his chest with the crankiness of being startled so badly. After a few seconds of nothing happening, Kris began to walk back toward the elevator. He didn’t trust the Soul completely just yet, but he was too tired and had too much going on to get a rain check on this. Now he just had to think of how to tell Ralsei and Susie. He wondered if he should tell them at all. The elevator doors opened and he stepped inside, feeling the anxiety rise along with him as the doors closed.

Heavy footsteps quickly came down the Dreemurr’s stairs, being brought along with sounds of laughter. “Ey, Kris! I know your bitch ass aint sleepin’ down here!” Susie yelled with a big jump down the rest of the stairs, landing with a resounding thump across the whole house. Her eyes scanned the kitchen as she paused in silence to give Kris a chance to respond, then stood back up straight when there was none. “Uh oh, sounds like someone’s a bi-!” With a running start she leapt into the living room, turning to face the couch with her claws held out. To her surprise once again, there was nobody there. “Kris?” Knowing Kris and putting two and two together, she whipped her head around, expecting to see the skinny human right behind her. Once again, nothing. Looking to the bathroom, she saw that the door was open and the light was off, signifying he probably wasn’t in there either.

“Kris! Hello?! Hey, come on, I’m too tired for this! Just come out so I can give you your phone back!” She yelled, keeping her head on a swivel. The rain outside combined with her being alone at night made the unease grow in her stomach. “Kris? Please, man.” The front door suddenly opened, making Susie’s heart shoot through the top of her head as she turned around. In the doorway stood Kris with his head lowered, soaking wet from head to toe. “Jesus, you scared the shit out of me. What the hell were you doing out there?”

Kris didn’t say anything, and with an uneven walk got inside and closed the door behind him. He began to walk slowly towards Susie, keeping his head and arms hanging down limply.

“Kris?” Susie took a step backward to keep her distance, if not only to stop from getting wet. But every step she took, Kris matched with two forwards. “Kris, what happened?” She had backed into the kitchen by now, her heart starting to race.

Suddenly, he stopped walking.

Neither of them said anything.

Slowly, Kris’s head began to lift, still hanging like it was loose to the side. His hair covered almost all of his face, the only thing being partly visible being the creases around his mouth indicating a smile. His hand slowly went up to reach into his pocket, and…

Susie’s silence was replaced by the sound of sniffling, and Kris pulled his head up to look. He pushed his hair out of the way and tried not to look wide eyed at what he was seeing. Maybe this wasn’t the best time for a prank, he thought as he locked eyes with the girl’s tired eyes. He quickly assumed normal position, and felt the awkwardness of his own stupid idea constrict his throat, preventing many words. “Uh...sorry.”

Susie clenched her fists as tears began to stream down her face, her teeth bared. “It’s so hard, Kris.” She swallowed and huffed through her clenched jaws. “I can’t deal with all of this.” She had been in Go mode all day, and everything was starting to catch up. “I’m so stressed out, and so scared all the time. I try to be strong for you guys, but...fuck!” She slammed her open hands down onto the countertop, looking more angry as more tears came out. “I can’t do this, man, I can’t. Not with both of you.” Her arms went up over her head and down her face, her hands stopping at her forehead by the claws.

Kris was stunned, but knew he had to say something. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I thought that would be funny.”

“It’s fine, man. I would have thought it was, probably. But after everything today, and all the constant shit, I just feel so tired. I’m so tired of getting tricked, and getting lied to, and always having to worry about if my only two fucking friends are really themselves!” She put her arms down with fists clenched, but didn’t want to punch anything that didn’t belong to her. The remorse on Kris’s face cooled her rage down, and made her sigh with a bit of a slouch. “Can we just go to bed? Me and Ralsei texted your mom, your phone is upstairs.” She sniffled again and wiped her snout with her sleeve.

“...Yeah. Let’s just go to bed. This day has felt like a week as is. Is Ralsei upstairs?” Kris rubbed the back of his neck, trying to pretend that nothing happened without actually doing that.

Susie nodded and slowly walked over to the stairs, her eyes still being teary and weepy. Kris followed up behind her silently, almost forgetting he was still in sopping wet clothes. Once they were in the bedroom, Kris was delighted to see that the bookshelf was moved back, not catching it in the hallway. He opened his closet and picked out some dry clothes as Ralsei slept in the opposite bed, however being woken up by Susie practically laying down on top of him and burying her snout in him.

“Huh…? Susie? What happened…?” He began to reach for his glasses as her arms burrowed under his back.

“She’s just tired. We all are. Go back to sleep.” 


	11. Electric Sheep

Throughout the night, the gentle storm outside had come and left again and again, like a parent cracking the door to their child’s room to make sure they were still asleep. The vigilant winds were sent to whistle and creak against the silent house for risk of waking them, a mistake that their sister thunder would surely make. However, nature hadn’t accounted for the noise of the heavy metal boots that walked slowly across the bedroom carpet, nor did it the weight it would bring upon the chest of the sleeping goat, slowly rising and falling with each peaceful breath. But with one boot raised upon the falling chest, the crushing force would prove too much for it to come back up again.

Ralsei’s eyes shot open. His immediate thought was that something was weighing down heavily on his chest, and his mind quickly went to Susie. Usually he would be more than happy to be a little bit squished due to the comfort it brought them both, but he quickly realized that it was too concentrated to be her. He tried to bring his hand up to his chest before doing anything, but noticed that he couldn’t move his hand at all. His mind was on high alert, unsure of what was going on. He felt like he could hardly breathe, and when he tried to open his mouth to speak, nothing happened. At the very least he could move his eyes, but without being able to reach for his glasses they wouldn’t be of much use.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the bedroom, he became able to see ever so slightly. He was laying flat on his back, so he couldn’t roll his eyes down far enough to make out anything on him even with the slight angle of a pillow. But something caught his eye in the corner of the room, right in front of Kris’s bed. The beaten red wagon that usually housed Kris’s birdcage seemed to be moving ever so slightly, rocking back and forth on the carpet. Ralsei stared at it as his heart raced, trying to focus on doing anything at all. It wasn’t long until he realized that he was being stared back at, a person shaped figure facing directly at him sitting in the wagon. The second he noticed, a jolt went through his body, and he began to hear things. The walls began to speak, trying not to wake the others by keeping their voices to a low whisper, quiet enough so that they were hardly audible at all, let alone loud enough to understand them. It didn’t help alleviate any of Ralsei’s fear, making him feel as if the walls around him as well as his very brain had been infested with termites. Among the sea of voices, one had managed to claw its way up to the surface, sticking itself out in the open. It was a familiar voice, spoken like it was coming from inside of a wall or calling to him from the room next to the one he was in. The sound of whispers bled out into a low drone as the voice began to speak, coming from behind him.

“Ralsei.” It said, eliciting another cold jolt through his body. Had he been able to move, he would have most likely leapt from the bed out of being startled. He couldn’t see behind him, much as he tried. A few seconds after the voice called to him, a knock sounded beside him on the wall Susie was closest to, making him start to shake. He prayed the sound would wake her up as he once again tried to cry out, but barely any air left his lungs at all resulting in an inaudible squeak. He wanted to scream.

“Ralsei.” The voice repeated, his head swimming in the sound of static droning that grew louder, filling him with even more dread. The weight moved to his throat, and he felt as if he was being choked. His eyes darted around the room in a panic, but they didn’t get far before stopping once again. The shadowy figure stood in the center of the room, close to the far wall and door. Their form became clearer, but still partially obscured. Their shape didn’t make sense to be a living thing, swaying back and forth with a crooked stance. He didn’t want to look at it anymore, but his eyes were locked to it like a prey to a predator, trying to make sense of it. It looked as if it had no legs, but it still stood, and Ralsei swore it was moving ever so slightly towards him.

He shut his eyes, tears streaming down the sides of his face as he tried as hard as he could to scream.

“Ralsei.” The knocking was louder this time as Ralsei barely mustered a tiny grunt, the shock of his own voice making him open his eyes once again. The droning had become so loud he thought it unfair for it not to wake his friends, the feeling of choking almost thrown off him when he looked down at the foot of the bed to see eyes staring back at him once again. The figure was close enough to reach out and touch his leg if it so wished, provided that one of its horrible appendages were arms. He could almost make out a face in the glow of the green stars on the wall behind him, two large hollow eyes staring wide into his face.

“Let me look through you.” The figure said without seeming to move its face at all. The repetition of his name and knocking didn’t stop, continuing independently. Ralsei tried to talk, scream, cry, vocalize at all once more, feeling like he was minutes away from dying. The figure seemed to sense his fear and apprehension, speaking to him once again.

“What do you have?”

The figure no longer merely peeked up from the end of the bed, putting two limbs up onto the bed by his legs. Its joints were all backwards, and seemed to only get more grotesque as it got closer. He could feel it touching him, but couldn’t even move to flinch or resist. Its face was human, but it was all wrong. Its face was almost white with paleness, but still shaded with a grey tone. It lacked a nose, and the mouth was much too large to be human. His brain could hardly comprehend it.

Another knock and the face went completely over the bed, weight shifting around in the bed by his hip as the figure climbed over him. The sound of growling surged in through the sides of his head as the grinning face flashed with light above it like a strobe, leaning in up to his waist.

“Why can’t I see?”

The figure froze, keeping its large eyes piercing through Ralsei’s as they stung with tears. It wasn’t moving, but Ralsei felt an unease in his stomach that he knew what was about to happen. The face was lit in an otherwise void of darkness, slowly opening its mouth with the same grin it held. It didn’t even blink, not sparing a single second to stop staring at him.

With one more frantic knock, Ralsei felt the shifting of weight on the bed leaning forward. Like pulling the trigger of a gun, the figure lunged at him before the voice behind him could even finish saying his name again. Just as quickly Ralsei shut his eyes and yelped, suddenly finding he could move again by jerking his entire body like he just touched a live wire. He felt light against his eyes, and opened them.

“Jesus, man. Are you good?” Ralsei looked in front of him only to see the computer at the opposite wall, lit up by the morning sun shining through the closed curtains in the middle of the wall opposite. He quickly turned to see the source of this query, a groggy looking Susie holding one shoulder up leaning away from him with a confused look. In the direction of the window stood Kris, a similarly confused look plastered on his face with his phone in his hand.

“Ralsei?” Kris said, furrowing his brow with concern. “Hello?”

Ralsei blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes, reaching for his glasses. “Huh? Yes, I’m awake. What’s going on?” He looked at them both again, feeling his heart begin to slow down from its racing pace.

“My mom wants to talk to you.” Kris half held out the phone in his hand, looking a little nervous himself.

“N-Now? I don’t know if I’m ready…” Ralsei closed his hands and held them close to his chest.

“I mean, she’s on the phone right now.” Kris said with a lowered voice, pointing at his cell phone. “That’s why I woke you up.” He held out the phone closer to him, warranting a stare at the object from Ralsei.

“Give him a sec.” Susie asserted to Kris, rubbing her bed partner’s arm. “You certainly woke me up, heh.” She smiled at him, rubbing his shoulders. “Are you alright? I thought I accidentally jabbed you with a claw or something.”

The powerful hands working his shoulders were clearly untrained in the way of the masseuse, but their weight and sheer rubbing factor made his shoulders untense at the very least. “I’m fine, I’m just...nervous.”

“Come on, you can do it. You’ve met Kris’s mom before, dude. Plus, she’s not mad or anything, right?” She kept rubbing his shoulders like he was a prize fighter between rounds, looking at Kris to hopefully confirm her claims because she honestly had no idea. “You’ve looked way scarier dudes in the face than the kindergarten teacher who bakes pies. You don’t even have to do that, just talk into the phone.” Her smile was genuine and Ralsei could tell, but he still opted to lean back into her protection as opposed to towards the phone.

“Um…” His voice cracked out, looking at the phone like it was on fire. Susie’s hands held him firmly in place, moving down to his arms and giving them both a little rub with her thumb.

“She’s just concerned and wants to make sure you’re alright. She’s driving home now, so either she really can’t wait to throw you out in person, or she’s not mad.” Kris pushed the phone towards him, being the only one worried about her hearing them it seemed. “Look, she isn’t mad or anything.”

“I-I don’t know how to...um…” His eyes glanced up at Kris and then back down at the phone. He felt Susie let go of his arm and grab the phone from Kris, holding his one arm gently but firmly.

“Come on, Rals, it’ll be like one minute. I’ll just hold it up to your ear, and you talk to her, alright? You can even close your eyes if you want to.” She brought the phone to the side of his head a few inches away, awaiting his confirmation.

“Alright…” Ralsei mumbled, clearing his throat and shutting his eyes with a tense look on his face. He felt the phone slip under his ear, making it twitch and open one of his eyes. Seeing Susie struggle with trying to get the phone in a proper position with his ears, he raised his hand out. “I can do it, Susie.”

“Eheheh, sorry.” She cracked up, looking embarrassed with a crooked smile as she handed the phone off to Ralsei again. As he leaned his head slightly to make his ear hang open, Toriel’s voice sounded over the phone.

“Hello?” She said, the second half of the word being louder as Ralsei got the phone in a comfortable position to his ear.

“Um...hi.” He began to mumble, feeling Susie’s head go over the shoulder opposite to the phone and her arms going around his chest.

“Hello? Ralsei? Are you alright?” Her voice wasn’t hiding the concern that dripped from its words, nor did it hide the tint of fear and worry.

“Um…” He looked up at Kris, mumbling even more as the human gave him a raised eyebrow to ask what the issue was, and a mouthed “louder” with his hand laid down flat raising up towards the ceiling. “Yes…?”

Kris looked at him again with concern, his face asking Ralsei what was going on and why he was staring at him. Ralsei, however, didn’t quite hear the message right on account of talking on the phone, and took it as disapproval.

“I-I mean, no…” Ralsei wasn’t sure the answer to the question anyway. Her soft concern burned at his heart, prodding at an old wound that had been torn open once again. The few seconds of silence from all parties felt like it went on for an eternity, between not knowing what to say and not knowing what is being said at all.

“Ralsei…” Toriel said over the phone, trying not to audibly sigh. “You do not need to be afraid. I am almost home, would you like to wait to talk then? I should not be talking on the phone while driving anyway, but this is an emergency.” The air hung dead once again for a few seconds as Ralsei stared down at the floor. “I promise you can trust me, child.”

Ralsei didn’t expect her to be the one to be trying to gain his trust, and that one sentence lifted a heavy weight from his shoulders alone. He knew it was his turn to say something, and swallowed in his dry throat. “O...k-kay.”

The look on Ralsei’s face made a pit open up in Kris and Susie’s stomach, neither of them having seen Ralsei this scared before. Even knowing the tone of the call beforehand, part of Kris worried that for whatever reason his mother was giving Ralsei the berating of a lifetime for trespassing and doing something she thought was stupid. But as Ralsei hung up the phone, he took a deep breath, set the phone down, and buried his face into Susie.

“What’d she say? What happened?” The hold Ralsei had on her didn’t bode well in her mind either.

“She’s...just so nice…” Ralsei said muffled by the fabric of her t-shirt, feeling it get wet where his face was.

“Aw, dude…” Susie lifted her hand and planted it on the top of his head, scratching and rubbing it softly. “I guess we shouldn’t have freaked him out so much. I think we were just shitty kids.” She looked up at Kris with a smile of relief, the human being unable to help but give an exhale through the nose.

“Yeah, that’s probably true. Moms are usually angels to everyone but their kids.” Kris grabbed his phone off the bed, trying not to look like he was antsy to get it back.

“Uh...no? I think you were just a little shit, man. Matter of fact, we’re both little shits, so that can’t be true.” Susie grinned and rested her chin down on top of Ralsei’s head, moving her hand down to his back with a pat. “But I get what you mean. Don’t worry Ralsei, if Kris’s mom is too soft and gentle then you’ll love my mom. Come on, let’s get up and ready. Shit, speaking of, I need to get home soon.” She began to stand up, but Ralsei stayed wrapped around her even as he got up.

“You’re leaving…?” Ralsei mumbled, his eyes glancing up from her shirt to look at the underside of her face.

“I don’t know, man, I’ll try to be here as long as I can. You can always use Kris’s phone to call me or text me or whatever, but I can be a little late. Nothing new there.” She tried to reassure him with a smile as she rubbed a finger in a circle around the base of his horn.

“No, it’s fine. I don’t want you to get in trouble.” Ralsei protested, letting go of her and wiping his face with his sleeve. “I’ll be alright.”

“Do you still need help going down the stairs, or…?” Kris said with his hands behind his back, starting to sidestep towards the door.

“Hm? Oh, right.” Ralsei took his glasses off to wipe the insides, putting them back on and clearing his throat once again. “I feel much better today, in that regard. Still a little tired, though…” He yawned. “I didn’t sleep very well.”

“Yeah, I could tell. You flailed around like shit when Kris tried to nudge you awake. It’s early in the morning, so I might go back to sleep when I get home.” Susie yawned back at him.

“When do you usually wake up at your house?” Ralsei eyed the clock on the nightstand. “It’s almost 10 AM…”

“Hey, ever heard of that old thing about not waking a sleeping dragon? It’s cus we sleep a lot.” Susie smirked, poking at Ralsei’s stomach and making him quickly step back. “Let’s get downstairs before Kris’s mom gets home. I’ve seen her drive, and she hauls ass.” She held her hand out to Ralsei, his slightly wide eyed look from the poking assault fading into a smile as he took her hand, Kris having already left the room. But just as the hand came, it left, and Ralsei felt two hands go on his waist and lift him up off the ground and into Susie’s carry.

“Susie…” Ralsei’s face heated up with embarrassment as his cheeks flushed. “I’m really alright to go downstairs by myself.”

“Yeah? Well maybe I just wanna carry you, Pastey. Ever think of that?” She bounced him a couple times and began to walk out the door. “But uh, if you want me to put you down you just gotta say so.”

“Hmm. No, I think I’m alright here.” He smiled eye to eye with her and kissed her on the broad side of her jaw, warranting a faltering grin from her scaly visage as she stopped in her tracks.

“Hey, you’re stealing my techniques!” She rubbed her cheek for a second before starting to walk again, taking them both downstairs full of cooing and giggling. By the time they made it down, Kris was already in the living room hanging out by the window.

“Is she here?” Susie stopped laughing and put Ralsei down, before following to where Kris was standing with Ralsei close behind.

“No, but she texted me and said she’s back in town. Shouldn’t be more than a few minutes. When you see her car coming, get away from the windows. I don’t want us to seem suspicious.” Kris hid most of his body behind the wall, only peeking out with his eyes to look. “Try not to laugh or smile, either.”

Susie smacked her lips and sat down onto the couch. “Man, why are you being so paranoid? We’re not up to anything.”

“I just don’t want to take any chances. It’s the little details that count, it’s what people pick up on. Like when you’re sick on a school day, if you smile or laugh your parents think you’re faking.” Kris glanced back at the couch as Ralsei sat down next to Susie, her arm almost instantaneously going around his shoulder. “She’s here. Act natural.” Kris bolted from the window and practically dove onto the couch beside Ralsei.

“We are! Relax!” Susie growled as the knob to the door jiggled, making their heads snap over to look at the front door. The sound of the door unlocking froze them as it opened, revealing the caprine matriarch that had been terrorizing their heads for weeks now. Her face was rife with worry, and almost somber looking as she closed the door behind her.

“Hello, everyone. I’m glad you’re all already here.” She said as she walked into the living room. “Just give me one second to put my bag down.” None of them said anything, just either staring forward or watching her go to the kitchen and put her keys and bag down onto the counter. The sink turned on as she washed her hands, only adding to the suspense that they felt pulling their shoulders up. Finally, it turned off, and after a few seconds of hand drying she walked back into the living room and sat down in her chair. They looked at each other in silence, the only sound proving to endure once again being the analog clock in the kitchen’s ticking until Toriel exhaled deeply and began to speak.

“Kris.” She said, her eyes trailing over to her son. “Why don’t you walk Susie home.”

“Huh?” Kris said, caught off guard. Susie’s mouth cracked ajar as she glanced over at Ralsei, his eyes looking wide and his face looking pale. “Uh, why?” Kris wondered if it was smart to question her all too late.

“I just wish to talk to Ralsei alone. Nobody is in any trouble.” She glanced over at Ralsei, who looked like he was on the verge of tears. “I promise. Susie needs to get home, anyway. I know how her parents are. When did they say you had to be home?”

Susie rubbed the back of her head and cleared her throat. “11.” She said with as little time vocalizing as possible.

“I see. You had better get going soon, then. I wouldn’t want you getting in trouble over me.” She pushed up her glasses and leaned back in her chair. The similarity to Ralsei would have been amusing to Susie had it been any other situation, but all it did was leave her feeling nauseous at the thought of leaving Ralsei by himself at a time like this. Regardless, she stood up silently, and got her jacket and shoes by the door. Kris seemed surprised at the lack of protest from Susie, but was relieved to not have things get ugly.

“Alright, well...I’ll be back soon.” Kris said as he followed her, saying that more for Ralsei. They didn’t want to leave in such a hurry, but figured it was best to just get it over with as fast as possible. The front door shut and again they were left in silence as the footsteps outside grew quieter, Toriel’s head turned to the window to watch them walk away. Suddenly, she seemed to snap out of her thoughts and look back towards the ground, leaning forwards in her chair. Her demeanor was relatively relaxed, at least compared to the clamming cold sweat that Ralsei was in. With no scarf or hat to hide behind, he felt all too exposed in the vision of the mother.

“I am not trying to single you out, you know.” Toriel picked her head up so that she could see him, like she was looking at a statue on her couch with its hands folded on its lap. “I just wanted you to be able to speak from your heart, and not have to worry about your friends hearing something you would be embarrassed to say in front of them. Perhaps I am making assumptions, but it is just a feeling I had.”

Ralsei didn’t say anything, choosing a spot on the chair behind her to stare at as opposed to her face. Toriel sighed and sat up straight in her seat, putting her hands on the armrests to help stand herself up. “Is it alright if I sit down next to you? Sitting across from one another like this makes it feel too formal for my tastes.”

An easy smile came across her face as Ralsei’s safety looking spot quickly became invalidated, forcing him to look up and see it. His throat felt dry and almost coughed just from starting to talk. “Um...okay.”

Susie tugged on the opening of her jacket as the wind blew, sending a chill under her scales. Her teeth clacked together as her jaw twitched, the autumn wind starting to feel more like winter with every passing day. They walked along the sidewalk without much conversation, an event caused by Kris’s inability to start one and Susie’s mood preventing her. She felt guilty for leaving Ralsei by himself once again, even if this was something that she couldn’t help him with. But the futility of her action in the situation only gnawed at her heart further, as the feeling of being powerless stripped her of almost everything. She stepped over the police tape that still hadn’t been gotten rid of, despite there being no clear reason for it, and Kris ducked under because his legs weren’t that long. At the very least it served as a sort of halfway point for Susie’s walk home, telling her that she wouldn’t have to run around in the cold like an asshole for very much longer. The cold put a bad taste in Susie’s mouth, turning her thoughts into negativity stewing her brain as they walked through her block.

“Sorry.” Kris said abruptly, his voice giving her the slowest and most somber slap in the face she had ever felt.

“Huh? For what?” She turned her head and put her hands into her pockets, for both the coolness and warmness factor. “You talkin’ about not arguing with your mom a minute ago, or what? I don’t blame you for not wanting to make a scene.”

Kris kept his eyes forward, his face telling that he may as well have been choking on the words he was trying to say. “No, for last night.”

Susie was pretty sure she knew what he was referring to, but it didn’t really help that Kris was doing his usual thing of dancing around saying it himself. “You mean freaking me out?”

“Yeah.”

“Man, it’s fine. I probably shouldn’t have gotten that upset about it.” She scratched the back of her head, feeling embarrassment radiate through her chest. “I was just tired. Hell, I’m still tired.” It came out like it was supposed to be a joke, but Susie wasn’t smiling.

“Hey, can I tell you something? I don’t know if you’ll be very happy about it.” Kris slouched with his head towards the ground, pretending to rub his chest absentmindedly.

Susie looked forward but kept her eyes glanced over at the human, pulling the side of her mouth back. “I’m already not happy. What is it?”

He felt her eyes on him and tried to steel his face against it, having absolutely no plan for what was going to be said next. “Uh, remember when I went on that walk last night? To preface, that joke was just in bad taste, not really like...real.”

Susie raised an eyebrow at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?” She already knew where this was most likely going, and felt her arms tense up.

“Well…” He started, beginning to feel like he made a mistake based on Susie’s reaction alone. “I went back, and uh…” His fists closed inside the pockets of his pants. “May or may not have gotten my soul…?”

The words froze out of the air as soon as he said them, along with Susie.

“Why?” She said, with a force that was more like she was telling him to answer as opposed to asking him. “Is this another joke, Kris?”

“No, I’m serious.” She turned to face him with his whole body, and her yellow teeth bared with her lip twitching.

“A’rright. So then tell me. Why?” She repeated, this time with anger in her voice. “Why are you so set on doing all of this bullshit? Everything was fine, what the fuck is your problem?”

“Uh…” He was expecting the worst, but still caught off guard by her reaction. The explanation he had ready sounded selfish now that he thought about it, and he wasn’t sure Susie would understand. “Things are still fine.”

“Really. They’re fine? Tell me how. And why.” Her fists were clenched so hard that her arms shook, and had it not been for her scales her claws would most likely cut into her hand. Kris stood a step back with his hands up defensively, his mind racing to think of what to say but going too fast to land on any coherent thought. “Kris.” She snarled through her teeth. “Quit thinking I’m gonna hurt you.”

“I’m thinking, just...that’s not how humans work.” Kris slowly lowered his hands. “I have everything under control. We worked a deal out.”

“We?” Susie rubbed her forehead. “God, I feel like I’m talking to Ralsei during one of his episodes.” Her words were harsh, but she was too afraid to care. She didn’t care if it made sense, she just wanted to hurt feelings.

“That’s different and you know it. Look, I swear on everything. I’ve felt really weird since I completely cut my soul out. I can’t sleep, I’m always cold, I get headaches...it’s not healthy. Plus, it really doesn’t have as much power as you think.”

Susie was beginning to burn out on her anger, but that doesn’t mean she was happy. “I know it has enough for me to not want it sleeping next to Ralsei every night.”

Kris sighed and made an antsy face. “Well, to be honest...most of the time it takes control it’s because I just sort of let it. It can break through if it’s really determined and I’m tired, but really I’m the one in control. I never saw much reason to fight for it until recently. I’d much rather not be in control when all your life is is worrying about stuff and being alone. But I’m done doing that, I swear. Plus, I think locking it in a box for a month gave it a strong enough message. I swear something like that won’t happen again.” He felt himself starting to ramble, and stopped talking before his words turned into an avalanche of nonsense and stuttering.

Susie stayed quiet, but seemed to ease up on her hostility. She turned herself forward once again and started walking. “It’s just hard, man.”

Kris took this as a signal to follow her. “What is?”

“All this shit going on, everything that’s happened. I feel like it’s all on my shoulders.” She kicked a rock along the sidewalk, leaving it behind after only a couple. “Both of you guys are my best friends and all, but...I can’t take everything by myself. The worst part is that I’m more worried talking to you guys will just pile more things to worry about on me instead of getting to blow off steam with people I like, and it makes me feel like an asshole.” She felt her eyes start to sting, so she made herself yawn to cover it. “I’m not as strong as you guys might think.”

“You’re not an asshole. Just say what you want to say and don’t worry about it.” Kris tried his best to coax.

“Between Ralsei’s stuff, and the soul stuff, everyone always comes to me for help and shit. I suck at that stuff, and it really stresses me out. I’m so fucking stressed, man. It feels hopeless.” Susie let herself spill out. “Everything’s hard as shit, I aint gonna amount to shit, and I’ll never be the person I want to be. I don’t even know what I’m gonna do after high school, and...I don’t know man. I just hate that you guys are becoming part of that.” They reached Susie’s street, and started to walk slower. “You guys are my only friends, and it’s hard to be happy to hear from you lately. That sounded bitchy, fuck. I just...maybe I don’t always want to have to be the strong one. I feel like nobody’s lookin’ out for me, but I also don’t want to bother you guys with any complaining. Best thing I can ever really offer is to just kinda sit there and let you guys talk. I don’t mind listening, but, man. I guess there’s nobody to blame but me for not saying anything.”

Kris walked beside her and kept his eyes forward, thinking that any sudden movements or looks might freak her out of talking about it. “It’s not like you did something bad. Things have been hard, yeah, but you don’t have to worry about all that anymore. I don’t really know what to say or do right this second, but you can always come to me if you got stuff worrying you. I can at least let you vent or send a dumb picture to make you wheeze. Ralsei is probably better at it than me, so I can hand the phone off to him whenever you want me to.” He hoped it didn’t sound patronizing.

“Thanks, Kris. Seriously. I’m not trying to tell you guys to fuck off or anything, pretty much the opposite. I’m scared of you guys feeling like something I just gotta deal with.” They stopped in front of her driveway, and looked at each other.

“I know, I get that. Do you want me to tell Ralsei the jist of it?” Kris looked up at his friend. “I imagine if we do end up living together, he’ll start talking to me more about it because I’m right there. Not that I really mind.”

“Thanks, Kris.” She smiled at him and glanced side to side. “Uh, I’d give you a hug, but my mom already thinks we’re dating. I really should tell her that Ralsei, like, exists. As a friend or whatever. I had to tell her your mom would be there to let me stay the night at your house.” Susie chuckled, wondering why she was telling Kris all this. With a quick smirk she was suddenly lunged at, the short unkempt gremlin before her throwing himself forward and clinging around her in a hug. Susie immediately looked around again, before being unable to help herself from cracking up.

“You freak.” She grinned and hugged him back as well as she could given the height difference. “Thanks, Kris.”

  
  
  


“Are you a good person?”

  
  


“If you were, surely you wouldn’t be so scared about someone finding out the truth about you.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


“If she really knew what you did, she’d be sick.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“She’d hate you more than she already did.”

  
  


“Ralsei?”

“Huh?” He snapped back to attention, seeing Toriel’s face looking right back at him from the seat next to him.

“Are you alright? You weren’t answering me. Did you sleep well last night?” Her head tilted, but it was still stained with concern. “You look tired, child. I imagine you have been through a lot, but I won’t bother you much longer.”

“It’s alright...what was the question? Did you ask me a question…?” He was gradually speaking up, his mumbling being part of the reason Toriel asked to sit closer to him.

“I had just asked you if you had someone you need to call.” Toriel kept her hands on her lap.

“Oh, um, right. What do you mean, exactly?” Ralsei sat on the cushion opposite to her, giving them a one cushion buffer. His knees were hugged to his chest lightly, like the floor was swarming with piranhas.

“Like a parent, or a legal guardian, whoever takes care of you. I must admit, I actually know very little about your personal life. Your other friend Susie I know from school, but I don’t think I have ever seen you there. Ah, my apologies. I should let you speak.” She smiled apologetically, trying every trick in the book to get Ralsei to talk. She thought it was strange to see him like this, especially since he was usually very talkative and cheerful. But given her experience as a teacher, she knew what signs to look for that things were not alright.

“Um, no.” He looked up at her for only a second before his eyes retreated back down to the couch cushion, his response confusing Toriel.

“No? Do you not want to call them? What if I did, would that help?” She kept her sunny disposition on him to let him know she wasn’t against him. However, part of her felt dread that Ralsei’s home situation was something much worse than what she wanted to think about.

“I don’t have anybody to call. I live by myself.” His voice sounded like he was confessing to a crime.

“By yourself?” She lifted her head. “Child, where do you live? Where are your parents?”

And there it was. The two questions that Ralsei had been dreading to be asked since the prospect of this plan was even thought of. His heart may as well have stopped beating, as if his body was shutting down just to avoid answering.

“I don’t know…” He was back to mumbling, but he knew that wouldn’t be a satisfactory answer. He was getting ready for her to think he is lying, and that it was all a ploy. But in truth, he really didn’t know where they were. He couldn’t exactly contact them at the moment, anyway. Toriel noticed how much trouble he was having, and tried to change her plan of attack.

“Do you have a place to stay, Ralsei? I do not mean to say that I don’t trust you, but please be honest.” When she thought about it, it was believable to think Ralsei didn’t have a place to stay. Whenever she saw him he had on the same exact clothes, he didn’t have a phone, or even shoes for that matter. If anything, she kicked herself for not saying anything sooner. “I will not pry you for information, but these things I have to know.”

“Um...kinda…” He said from behind his knees, looking up at Toriel. “You know, um, at the school, there’s that closet?”

Toriel’s eyes widened. “Ralsei...please do not tell me you live in the school supply closet.”

Ralsei paused, considering his options. There was an out right in front of him, but he wondered if it was alright considering that while it was technically true, it was still a lie. But while it was sort of a half truth, he honestly would have preferred to live there than in his castle. “Um…” His voice was a tired squeak. “Yes.”

The only word that would be able to describe the look on Toriel’s face is sadness. She took off her glasses and looked down for a moment. “How long have you been there?”

“Only about a month.” Ralsei quickly said to try and quell the sad look on her face. “But…” He added, letting himself step on the gas more. “I’ve been alone for much longer. I met Susie and Kris when they skipped school that one day, and...they brought me here.”

“Skipped school…?” Toriel’s face grew conflicted.

“Oh, um, I thought you knew that…” Ralsei nestled his face deeper into his knees, so only his eyes were visible.

“It is alright, child. If it meant that it brought you here to me at this moment, then I am more than happy for Kris to have skipped class.” She tried to bring him back with a soft smile. “I suppose if you don’t know where your parents are, there’s no reason to go to the police. And I cannot in good conscience send you away in some crowded foster program. I’d like to ask you to stay here until we figure things out more.”

Ralsei’s eyebrows perked up. “Huh? Really?” He looked into her eyes, and his look of reprieve made Toriel’s heart warm.

“Of course. I cannot let you just go back out onto the streets. You could get in trouble if someone caught you in the school after dark. It is more of a request from me, but I will not let you simply walk back out on your own.”

Ralsei nodded his head and pulled his knees closer to hide the blush on his face, and to prevent his glasses from fogging. “I’d love to, but I really don’t want to be a burden…”

“A burden? I’m a mother, Ralsei. Do not worry about a thing. Kris’s brother used to stay here, and I am willing to bet he ate more than you do. It is no trouble at all.”

Ralsei was too embarrassed now to leave his limb fortress, but his heart pounded and he was overwhelmed with many emotions. He had to thank Toriel, and tell Kris and Susie, and…

“Ralsei?” Toriel brought him back to the physical realm once again. His eyes suddenly came to life and looked at her. “Would you like me to make you something to eat?”

“Oh, um...I can make something for myself, b-but thank you.” His excitement made him trip over his own words.

“Nonsense, you need to rest. Didn’t the doctor tell you that you needed to? Go lay down upstairs, and I will come get you when it is ready. Do you like scrambled eggs?” She stood up and put her glasses back on.

“Scrambled eggs?” Ralsei furrowed his brow at the foreign concept. “I don’t think I’ve ever had them before...I find out something new you can do with eggs almost every time I eat here.”

Toriel didn’t even want to think about what that meant, or about Ralsei digging through garbage for food, so she didn’t question it any further.

“I am sure you will like them. You may use Kris’s bedroom, but the bed on the right is his, so please use the one on the left.” Toriel made her way into the kitchen and began to hum, looking through the fridge and cabinets to get the materials necessary to cook breakfast. Ralsei got up and began to slowly walk towards the kitchen, nervous about being in a house that wasn’t his without Kris to guide and act as his hall pass. Once in the kitchen he just saw Toriel nonchalantly going about her business, and made his way to the stairs with his head set forward. After the first few steps he picked up the pace, his goal of solace being Kris’s bedroom. He opened the door and peeked his head through, scanning the room and turning on the light rather quickly, just to be sure. The drawn curtain caught his attention, and he walked over to it with a thump raising in his heart. He slowly reached his hands out and pulled the curtains open, filling the room with sunlight. It shone across his face and body as he shut his eyes, basking in the warmth of it. A smile slowly went across his cheeks, and he muttered something quietly under his breath.

“The sun I feel is the same sun you felt all that time ago…” He placed his glasses on the dresser and touched his face. “But if you were here...I could have two.”

Susie awoke in her bed to the sound of her phone vibrating, the way she slept on her side only making the sound much louder in her ear. She rolled over and felt around for the buzzing phone, thinking someone was calling her. But to her surprise, the screen wasn’t lighting up when she looked. Turning on her phone screen, she saw that the buzzing wasn’t a call, but actually just a long series of texts sent one after another. It was the afternoon now, judging by the bright cold sun shining behind her curtains and more importantly the clock on her phone, but Susie didn’t mind wrecking her sleep schedule on the weekends. She unlocked her phone and went to her messages, all from Kris’s number, only to continue receiving more from as she looked. She squinted her tired eyes and began scrolling up to the very top of the messages.

“Hello, Susie! This is Ralsei! I’m using Kris’s phone to tell you that Ms. Toriel said I could stay at her house, at least until things get figured out, she said. I don’t know what that means, but I love you so very much!”

“Hello, Susie, this is Ralsei again. Have you ever had scrambled eggs and bacon? They are very good, and Ms. Toriel made some for us! I love you, again!”

“hey this is kris, i’m trying to ration ralsei’s texts so he doesn’t blow up your phone bill. I don’t know what plan you have.”

“i explained it to him so you’ll only receive messages that he thinks are reeeaaally important.”

“Hello, Susie! Ralsei here. Kris is letting me use his laundry machine, because my clothes smell like absolute shit!”

“ok that was me but that is a thing that is happening. he’s just gonna wear some of my clothes until we go out and buy some for him, so be mentally prepared for krisei next time you see him.”

“Hello, Susie. This is Ralsei, for real! From now on, you’ll know if it’s Kris being silly if my message doesn’t end with this symbol.”

“⍰”

“Do you see it? It’s a heart, like my robe! And also, because I love you!⍰”

“Kris has informed me that your phone is unable to see the symbol properly.”

“just kidding, it’s me again. I don’t have the heart (lol) to tell him that doesn’t work, he thought he was really smart for that one. pretend it’s a heart and not a phone glitch text. cya. <3”

“You can’t see the heart? ⍰”

“⍰”

“What do you see when I type that in?”

“she’ll just see like a question mark box or something. her phone is different than mine.”

“Oh, I see. Well, I suppose I could just type it out. Wait! Hold on, I am asking Kris how he made that heart symbol. Can you see that one? ⍰”

“Not the heart I just sent in that message, that one was for you to make sure you know it’s me talking to you.”

“you mean this? <3”

“Yes, that! Maybe you shouldn’t end your messages with it though, it might confuse her. That was Kris. ⍰”

“ <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 ⍰”

“I’m having so much fun with this! Can you see those ones? ⍰”

“yea she should be able to. looks like she’s probably asleep though”

“Oh, we shouldn’t message her any more until she wakes up, then! ⍰”

“Bye, Susie! I hope I see you soon! I love you! Sweet dreams! ⍰”

“I forgot you cannot see those. ⍰”

“Kris, how do I do the heart she can see again? ⍰”

“you do the less than symbol and then a three. it’s not like an actual heart button.”

“<3”

“Oh my goodness! That’s so creative! Did you come up with that? It’s like an illusion! ⍰”

“you think that’s cool, check this out”

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“What!!!!!!”

“I was so excited I forgot to put the heart in. But I assure you that was me. Sorry about the excessive punctuation though.⍰”

“How did you type that so fast, Kris?⍰”

“magic.”

“Magic? I thought humans couldn’t use magic? ⍰”

“i’m a computer wizard.”

“Huh? ⍰”

“nvm”

“nevermind* forgot we had a techno baby among us.”

“Hey, I’m still learning! ⍰”

Susie finally reached the bottom, having outpaced their typing speed with her reading speed. She smiled and rolled her eyes, starting to type.

“Are you guys seriously passing the phone back and forth to talk to each other????”

“Hi Susie! ⍰”

“yea it’s like a groupchat”

“We thought you wouldn’t want to be left out. ⍰”

“You guys are the biggest dorks on earth. Also holy shit?”

“What’s wrong?⍰”

“what” 

“She said you can stay at Kris’s house?? Right??”

“oh yea lol”

“I almost forgot! Yes, she did! She insisted, I didn’t even have to ask. ⍰”

“Fuck yea. Do you guys wanna do something?”

“I do!!! ⍰”

“I’m supposed to be resting, though. Maybe Ms. Toriel would let you come back over. ⍰”

“Kris already went to go ask her.⍰”

“Sure. Kris has way better food than my parents buy.”

“So. ⍰”

“So?”

“Yes, I mean to say to demonstrate now that we’re alone.⍰”

“Sooooooo”

“Come here often?”

“Um, maybe ⍰”

“Heh. I’m gonna pick you up like a backpack when I see you next.”

“Susie, you’re making me all flustered.⍰”

“i will personally fund ralsei a phone if it means that i never have to see this progress”

“Kris! ⍰”

“Jeez Kris, ever hear of knocking?”

“he asked me for the phone to type that i didn’t walk in on shit”

“his face is really pink though”

“Kris!!!!⍰”

“Can I come over or not?

“yes but please make sure to ask your parents first and bundle up if they can’t drive you ⍰”

“yea actually do that though and also yea my mom said you could as long as we don’t go out”

“Did I get you? That was Ralsei, not Kris. ⍰”

“I forgot to not do the secret symbol. ⍰”

“Fuck. ⍰”

“woah ralsei”

“That was you that said that, not me! ⍰”

“no like seriously that wasn’t me”

“i swear to god”

“Yes it was. ⍰”

“you can’t see it but ralsei has the biggest cheshire cat smile i’ve ever seen”

“yea ok that was actually me that said that”

“RALSEI STOP IT SERIOUSLY THAT WASN’T ME HE SAID THAT”

“:3 ⍰”

“I don’t know what that means but Kris told me to send it. ⍰”

“susie get over here quick ralsei is pwning me”

“help” 

“Susie? ⍰”

“Did she fall back to sleep? ⍰”

“i don’t know, i’m standing right next to you”

“I guess don’t say anything if you fell back to sleep?⍰”

“I’m here you geeks, I was getting ready. I’ll be over in like 20 minutes.”

“Yay! I love you so much, Susie!⍰”

“yea me too”

“Ralsei, quit bullying Kris. I love you too.”

“I didn’t type that. ⍰” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there it is. The end. Special thanks to the pocketpixels minecraft server for distracting me enough to not write this sooner, and another special thanks to the pocketpixels minecraft server for being so shitty and broken that it made me not want to play it and write instead.  
> Seriously though, those of you who read this, I sincerely thank you from the absolute bottom of my heart. The power bottom, even. The kudos and comments mean the absolute world to me, so again, thank you.
> 
> But don't touch that rotten little dial just yet! ;;;;)


End file.
